This study shows from a pragmalinguistic perspective how a group of university students, learners of Spanish as a second language, use mitigatings makers to mitigate the expression of disagreement in order to mantain the balance of interaction. Data reveal that learners use mitigating structures as well as politeness strategies to avoid threatening the image of the interlocutor, although the variety of mitigating structures is limited and the use of strategies is not always appropiate.