Spanish Idioms

What is an Idiom?

An idiom is a common phrase which means something different from its literal meaning but can be understood because of their popular use. Idioms are made of normal words that have a special meaning known to almost everyone.”

Source: Wikipedia

Introduction to Spanish Idioms

Every language has its own idioms and Spanish isn’t the exception. For language learners, idioms tend to be a big challenge, as they can be deceiving expressions. It doesn’t matter how many vocabulary words you have learned, the meaning of idioms doesn’t depend on the meaning of their words but on the context and cultural background. 

A proper use and a good understanding of idioms are signs of an advanced learner of the language. Studying Spanish idioms is a way to take your Spanish skills to the next level and dig deep into the most peculiar intricacies of the language. 

Why Should Students Learn Idioms?

When learning a new language idioms can be very confusing. Particularly when you hear them for the first time from a native speaker. Think of the common expression in the English “Piece of Cake”.

“That test was a piece of cake!”

How confusing is the literal meaning? Why would a test literally be a piece of cake? Not that I would complain.. In a sense learning idioms is like learning new vocabulary words. Since the expressions have a meaning unrelated to their literal interpretation, language students will want to learn common idioms and commit them to memory to help speed up their road to becoming conversational.

Top 10 most common idioms that are easy to use in daily conversation:

	SPANISH	ENGLISH (LITERAL)	ENGLISH (TRANSLATION)
1	Quien no arriesga, no gana	Who doesn’t risk, doesn’t win	Nothing ventured, nothing gained
2	Estar como una cabra	To be like a goat	To be crazy
3	No buscarle las pulgas al perro	Don’t look for fleas on the dog	Let sleeping dogs lie
4	Feliz como unas castañuelas	Happy as castanets	Happy as a clam
5	No dejes para mañana lo que puedas hacer hoy	Don’t leave for tomorrow that which you can do today	Don’t put off till tomorrow what can be done today
6	Irse por las ramas	To go by the branches	To beat around the bush
7	Quien fue a Sevilla, perdidó su silla	He who went to Sevilla, lost his seat	You snooze, you loose
8	Hacer el mono	To do the monkey	To monkey around
9	Muchos generales para tan pocos soldados	Many generals for so few soldiers	Too many chiefs, not enough Indians
10	A caballo regalado no le mires el diente	A gifted horse, don’t look at the teeth	Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

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Spanish Idioms With Tener (l)

English	Spanish
to be cold	tener frío
to be Succeed , to have success	tener éxito
to be hot	tener calor
a to have the floor	tener la palabra
to be years olld	tener años
to want , to Desire	tener ganas
to be careful	tener cuidado
to take the blame, to be at fault	tener la culpa
to Be jealous	estar celosos
to be envious	tener envidia
to Have a (head) ache	tener dolor de cabeza
to be hungry	tener hambre

Spanish Idioms With Tener (ll)

English	Spanish
to be Afraid of , to have fear of	tener miedo de
to be ashamed	tener verguenza
to be lucky	tener suerte
to be in a rage , to be very angry	tener rabia
to take someone for , to consider someone to be	tener por
to be thirsty	tener sed
to look bad	tener mala cara
to have to do with	tener que ver con
to be in a hurry	tener prisa
to be sleepy	tener sueño
to have a lot / a little / something / nothing to do	tener mucho / poco / algo / nada que hacer
to be right	tener razon
to take place	tener lugar

Idioms with Llèvar, Meter and Poder

English	Spanish
to put one´s foot in one´s mouth	meter la pata
to meddle	meterse donde no te llaman
to make clear	poner en claro
to carry ( something ) away	llevar (algo)
to Put the cards on the table	poner las cartas sobre la mesa
to Carry out	llevar a cabo
to sue	poner pleito
to take the opposite point of view	tomar el punto de vista opuesto
to get along well / badly with	llevarse bien / mal con
to star to	ponerse a
to heap praise on someone	alabar a alguien
to make look ridiculous	hacer el ridículo
to snoop around	meter las narices
to put in doubt	poner en duda

Idioms with Prepositions 1

English	Spanish
in the open air	al aire libre
across	a través de
to the right	A la derecha
in a good mood	de buen humor
probably	a lo mejor
at the same time	al mismo tiempo
on foot	a pie
at the beginning	al principio
inside out	al reves
In the distance	En la distancia
willingly	de buena gana
at the beginning of	al principios de
From now on	De hoy en adelante
to the left	A la izquierda
alone	a solas
by day	de día
by dint of	a fuerza de
at the same time	a la vez
in this way	De esta manera

Idioms with Prepositions 2

English	Spanish
every other day / week/month/ year	días / semana / mes / año
really?	¿De Verdad?
on the other hand	en cambio
straight ahead	recto
in regard to	en cuanto a
Standing	De pie
by night	por la noche
Nowhere, not anywhere	por ninguna parte,
Right away	en seguida
Suddenly	de pronto
by no means	de ninguna manera
in fact as a matter of fact	en efecto
straight ahead	derecho
everywhere	por todas partes
in a bad mood	de mal humor
anyway	de todos modos
again	de nuevo
unwillingly	de mala gana
Suddenly	de repente

Idioms with Quedar and Tomar

English	Spanish
to be left astonished	quedar asombrado
to agree on	quedar en
to take seriously	tomar en serio
to be left penniless	quedarse con el dia y la noche
to keep	quedarse con
to take it easy	tomarselo con calma
to pull someone´s leg	tomarle enserio

Idioms with Hacer and Hay

English	Spanish
to pay attention to	hecer caso
there is space	hay espacio
it´s good / bad weather	hace buen / mal tiempo
to play a part	hacer un papel
to hurt oneself	hacer daño
to become	hacerse + profession
to be lacking	hacer falta
to harm	hacer daño
to take a trip	hacer un viaje
to do good/ bad	hacer el bien / el mal
it´s cold	Hace frío
to become late	hacerse tarde
it is Necessary	es necesario
it´s windy	Hace viento
it´s hot / warm	hace calor

Idioms with Dar and Echar

English	Spanish
to shout	dar gritos
to flatter	echar flores
to burst out crying	echarse a llorar
to feed	dar de comer
to give up	darse por vencido
to take a walk	dar un paseo
to miss (a person or place)	echar de menos
to run into	dar con
to face	dar cara
to give thanks	dar las gracias
to strike the hour	dar la hora
to lead to ( places )	dar a
to realize	darse cuenta de
to give a hug , to embrace	dar un abrazo
to shake hands	darse la mano
to hurry	darse prisa
to take a walk	dar un vuelta
to blame	echar la culpa