Spanish Idioms
Aug 25th, 2008 | By Maribel | Category: English
Do you want to learn some Spanish idioms? Idioms are an essential part in every language because they are based on traditions and linguistic culture. As you already know, Spanish is a very wide language; therefore, idioms are numerous and they change from country to country.
However, here, you can learn idioms that are used in general and others that are used only in specific regions. In many cases translating idioms doesn’t make any sense, since they are colloquial expressions with a non perceptible meaning at first sight. We can mention for instance “comer más que un remordimiento”, “to eat more than remorse”. In Spanish when remorse is very deep, you say that it eats or it eats away. So, you can say this when someone eats too much.
There are also Spanish idioms with an equivalent in English, sometimes with different words, but the meaning is the same.
- El tiempo no perdona
Time and tide wait for no man - Matar el tiempo
To kill time - El tiempo todo lo cura
Time can cure everything - Amargarle el día a uno
To spoil someone's day -
Pisar la chocolatera (béisbol) (Mex.)
To score a run, cross home - Repartir insultos como dulces (Esp.)
To throw out insults left and right - Meter la cuchara (Ven.)
To butt in - Echarse a alguien al bolsillo (Col)
To charm someone completely
The following idioms are used mainly in specific countries. Have you heard about them?
If you know other idioms, don’t hesitate to write them as comments.
Correct spelling would be “amargaRle el día a uno” y “echarse a alguien al bolsillo” (no accent) … which is used in Spain as well, and I guess in other countries too. As for “repartir insultos como dulces”, I live in Spain and I’ve never heard it before. It is fully understable, but it strikes me as really odd … too “mild” , if you understand what I mean.
I have not heard of most of these, so thanks for the new information!
I remember in one of my Spanish classes our exercise was based on explaining English idioms in Spanish, and then we learned the meaning of other Spanish idioms.
They are a great help when it comes to conversation.
Thank you so much for your comments.
Misspellings have been corrected.
I know a couple of idioms:
“Tocar las narices a alguien”: To annoy someone
“Echarle narices a algo”: To deal valiently with something
is there an idiom for:
‘my foot fell asleep’
gracias!