25 popular Spanish idioms
-
Echar una mano - To lend a hand. To help someone out.
-
Costar un ojo de la cara - To cost an arm and a leg. To be very expensive.
-
A lo hecho, pecho - What's done is done. No use crying over spilt milk.
-
Andar con pies de plomo - To tread carefully. To walk on eggshells.
-
A cada cerdo le llega su San Martín - What goes around comes around.
-
Darse cuenta - To realize. To become aware of something.
-
Dar el brazo a torcer - To give in, to admit defeat.
-
Echar leña al fuego - To add fuel to the fire. To make a situation worse.
-
En un abrir y cerrar de ojos - In the blink of an eye. Very quickly.
-
Ir con pies de plomo - To tread carefully. To be cautious.
-
Llover a cántaros - To rain cats and dogs. To rain very heavily.
-
Meter la pata - To put your foot in your mouth. To say something inappropriate.
-
No tener pelos en la lengua - To not mince words. To speak bluntly.
-
Partirse de risa - To split your sides laughing. To laugh uncontrollably.
-
Quedarse con la boca abierta - To be left open-mouthed. To be very surprised.
-
Sacar las castañas del fuego - To pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire. To help someone out of trouble.
-
Ser pan comido - To be a piece of cake. To be very easy.
-
Tirar la casa por la ventana - To spare no expense. To go all out.
-
Tomar el pelo - To pull someone's leg. To tease someone.
-
Volver loco - To drive someone crazy. To annoy someone intensely.
-
Llover sobre mojado - It never rains but it pours. When things go from bad to worse.
-
No tener ni pies ni cabeza - To not make head nor tail of something. To be nonsense.
-
Costar un riñón - To cost a fortune. To be very expensive.
-
Irse por las ramas - To go off on a tangent. To stray from the main topic.
-
Hablar por los codos - To chatter nonstop. To talk excessively.
-
Dar en el clavo - To be assertive. (English Counterpart: To be spot on)
-
Entre la espada y la pared - Having to choose between two bad things. (English Counterpart: Rock and a hard place)
-
Matar dos pájaros de un tiro - To get two things done at once. (English Counterpart: To hit two birds with one stone)
-
Ser uña y carne - To be very close to someone. (English Counterpart: To be thick as thieves)
Spanish Idioms With Colors
-
De punta en blanco - Well dressed for a special occasion. (English Counterpart: Dressed to the nines, dressed to kill)
-
Dar en el blanco - To be right, to be assertive. (English Counterpart: To hit the bullseye)
-
Ver todo color de rosa - To be or see everything with excessive optimism. (English Counterpart: To see through rose-colored glasses)
Spanish Idioms with Animals
-
Tener vista de lince - To have an excellent vision. (English Counterpart: To have an eagle eye)
-
Tener memoria de pez - To have a bad memory. (English Counterpart: To have a memory of a sieve)
-
Ser la oveja negra - To be good for nothing. (English Counterpart: To be the black sheep)
Spanish Idioms with Food and Drinks
-
Ser del año de la pera - To be very very old. (English Counterpart: To be from another era)
-
Dar la vuelta a la tortilla - To turn the situation around. (English Counterpart: To turn the tables)
-
No importar un pepino/rábano - To be irrelevant. (English Counterpart: Do not care, couldn’t care less)
Spanish Idioms with Body Parts
-
Con la soga al cuello - To be in a situation with a lot of pressure. (English Counterpart: To be in trouble, or up to one’s neck)
-
Sin pelos en la lengua - To be straightforward, to be completely honest. (English Counterpart: To not mince your words)
-
Buscar la quinta pata al gato - To make something way more complicated than it is. (English Counterpart: To take the scenic route)
Spanish Idioms in Anki
Have you ever come across a Spanish sentence in which you understood every word in the sentence, but still could not understand the sentence itself? That sentence probably used an idiom: a phrase or a fixed expression that has meaning that is different from the literal meaning.
This deck is a collection of 782 Spanish idioms, taken from Keniston's "Spanish idiom list". The complete book is public domain and you can read it for free at http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001631055. This deck contains all of the idioms in Part A of the book.
Practice Spanish
Need Spanish exercises? Create your exercise workbooks with our Spanish exercise generator.