Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Mi amigo habla raro a veces.

Habla is the he/she/usted form of hablar in the present tense.
From habla, a native speaker already knows it means he/she speaks, so él is normally not needed.

Él mi amigo habla raro a veces is incorrect because you cannot put él directly in front of mi amigo like that. If you really wanted to include él, you could say:

Él, mi amigo, habla raro a veces. – He, my friend, speaks weirdly sometimes.

…but that has a different structure and is less natural in everyday speech. The normal version is simply:

Mi amigo habla raro a veces.

What exactly does habla mean here: speaks, talks, or is speaking?

The Spanish present simple (habla) can cover several English meanings, depending on context:

He speaks weirdly sometimes
He talks weirdly sometimes
In some contexts also: He is speaking weirdly (right now) sometimes is odd in English, but Spanish would still use habla and then clarify the time.

In everyday conversation, hablar usually corresponds to to speak or to talk, and habla here is a general statement about his usual way of speaking, not a single moment.

Is raro an adjective or an adverb here? Why not raramente?

Grammatically, raro is an adjective, but in everyday spoken Spanish (especially in Spain), adjectives are often used in an adverbial way after verbs like hablar:

hablar raro – to talk in a weird/strange way
hablar rápido – to talk fast
hablar alto – to speak loudly

The more “correct” adverb would be raramente (rarely) or something like de forma rara (in a strange way), but:

Mi amigo habla raramente actually means My friend rarely speaks, which is a different meaning.
Mi amigo habla raro means My friend speaks in a weird way.

So raro here is perfectly natural, conversational Spanish acting adverbially.

Does raro describe the friend (amigo) or the way he talks?

In this sentence, raro describes how he talks, not what he is like as a person.

Mi amigo es raro. – My friend is weird/strange. (his personality or general vibe)
Mi amigo habla raro. – My friend talks in a weird way. (his manner of speaking: accent, choice of words, tone, etc.)

The position of raro after habla makes it clearly modify the verb habla, not the noun amigo.

Is raro rude? How strong is it compared to English words like weird or strange?

Raro usually corresponds to weird, odd, or strange. The tone depends a lot on context and voice:

Among friends, Hablas un poco raro can be light and teasing.
In a serious tone, Es muy raro can sound judgmental or negative.

In Spain it’s quite common and not automatically offensive, but like weird in English, it can feel a bit harsh if used about a person:

Es un poco raro. – Slightly softer: He is a bit odd.
Habla raro. – Neutral description of his way of speaking, not necessarily an insult.

Why is it mi amigo and not el mi amigo?

In Spanish, you normally do not put an article (el, la, los, las) in front of a possessive adjective like mi, tu, su, nuestro:

mi amigo – ✅
el mi amigo – ❌ (wrong in modern standard Spanish)

So you just say:

mi amigo – my friend
mi casa – my house
mis amigos – my friends

Why doesn’t mi have an accent, while mí sometimes does?

Spanish has two different words:

mi (without accent) – possessive adjective: mi amigo, mi casa, mi coche
mí (with accent) – stressed pronoun, used after prepositions: para mí, de mí, a mí

In Mi amigo habla raro a veces, mi means my, so it’s the possessive adjective and has no accent.

Why is it amigo and not amiga? How would the feminine version look?

Amigo is the masculine form, and amiga is the feminine form.

Mi amigo habla raro a veces. – My (male) friend…
Mi amiga habla raro a veces. – My (female) friend…

Everything else in the sentence stays the same, because nothing else needs to change for gender here.

Does a veces have to go at the end, or can we move it?

You can move a veces; Spanish word order is fairly flexible for adverbs of frequency. All of these are correct:

Mi amigo habla raro a veces.
Mi amigo, a veces, habla raro.
A veces, mi amigo habla raro.

The most natural, neutral version is probably the original: Mi amigo habla raro a veces.
Moving a veces to the beginning (A veces…) tends to emphasize the “sometimes” part a bit more.

Is there any difference between Mi amigo habla raro a veces and Mi amigo a veces habla raro?

Both sentences are correct and mean almost the same thing. The difference is mainly rhythm and slight emphasis:

Mi amigo habla raro a veces.
- Everyday, neutral order.
- Focus slightly more on how he speaks: he speaks weirdly, and this happens sometimes.
Mi amigo a veces habla raro.
- Puts a veces closer to the verb, so your ear may catch the “sometimes” a bit earlier.
- Can sound a little more careful or deliberate, but the meaning is practically the same.

In everyday speech, both are fine; natives will use both patterns.

Could I say Mi amigo habla raramente instead?

You can, but it changes the meaning.

Mi amigo habla raro a veces. – My friend sometimes talks in a weird way.
Mi amigo habla raramente. – My friend rarely speaks / hardly ever speaks.

Raramente means rarely / not often, not in a weird way. So if you want to describe how he speaks, not how often, stick with habla raro.

Why do we use hablar here and not something like decir?

In Spanish:

hablar is to speak / to talk (how someone talks in general, conversation, language use)
decir is to say / to tell (specific information or sentences)

The sentence talks about his manner of speaking, so hablar is the natural verb:

Mi amigo habla raro a veces. – His way of talking is sometimes strange.
If you use decir, you would focus on what he says, not how:
- Mi amigo dice cosas raras a veces. – My friend sometimes says weird things.

Is there an equivalent with the progressive tense, like is speaking?

Yes, you could use the present progressive:

Mi amigo está hablando raro. – My friend is speaking weirdly (right now).

Differences:

Mi amigo habla raro a veces. – General habit: he sometimes talks in a weird way.
Mi amigo está hablando raro. – Right now, in this moment, he is talking weirdly.

Spanish uses the simple present (habla) more often than English uses speaks/talks, so you don’t always need está hablando when English uses is speaking.

Could we say Mi amigo habla de una forma rara a veces? Is that more formal?

Yes:

Mi amigo habla de una forma rara a veces.
Mi amigo habla de manera rara a veces.

These are correct and sound a bit more explicit or slightly more formal because you’re adding de una forma / de manera (in a way / in a manner).

However, in everyday speech, especially in Spain, people usually prefer the shorter:

Mi amigo habla raro a veces.

It’s natural, idiomatic, and not considered incorrect.

If I want to be softer or less judgmental, is there a gentler way to say it?

You can soften raro with phrases like un poco, un pelín, un poco raro a veces:

Mi amigo habla un poco raro a veces. – My friend talks a bit weird sometimes.
Mi amigo a veces habla un poco raro.
In very colloquial Spain Spanish: Mi amigo habla un pelín raro a veces. – a tiny bit weird.

These options sound less harsh and more like a friendly observation.