Friend, mate.
Interchangeable with causa in Lima, slightly broader in age range. "Es mi pata" means he is my guy. "Patas" in the plural means the crew.
Literally "paw" or "leg." "Ser pata de alguien" is to be someone's leg — the one who stands with you.
Reading a definition isn't the same as saying it to someone. Lingo Kaiava is a voice tutor set to Peruvian Spanish — it uses pata the way locals do, corrects you in the moment, and never "fixes" the way real people actually talk into textbook Peruvian Spanish.
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