71 Spanish idioms, each filed under its main word, the way a dictionary would. Each one shows what it literally says and the English idiom for the same idea.
A
-
lit. ‘ask your pillow about it’
EN Sleep on it
B
-
lit. ‘to be in Babia’
To miss something that is obvious to everyone else.
-
lit. ‘to be without a blanca (an old coin)’
EN Not have two pennies to rub together
C
-
Más lento que el caballo del malo
lit. ‘slower than the bad guy’s horse’
EN At a snail’s pace
-
lit. ‘it’s raining by the pitcher’
EN It’s raining cats and dogs
-
lit. ‘be like a pair of castanets’
EN Over the moon
-
Al mejor cazador se le va la liebre
lit. ‘even the best hunter lets the hare get away’
EN Even Homer nods
-
lit. ‘it sounds like Chinese to me’
EN It’s all Greek to me
-
lit. ‘to mix churra sheep with merino sheep’
EN Compare apples and oranges
-
lit. ‘to talk through the elbows’
EN Talk the hind legs off a donkey
-
lit. ‘be up to the neck’
EN A lot on your plate
-
lit. ‘to tell Chinese tales’
EN A cock-and-bull story
D
-
lit. ‘cross the fingers’
EN Keep your fingers crossed
E
-
Estar entre la espada y la pared
lit. ‘to be between the sword and the wall’
EN In hot water
-
lit. ‘lose your stirrups’
EN Blow a fuse
F
-
lit. ‘to be lined’
EN Have money to burn
-
lit. ‘it’s a cold that peels’
EN Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
G
-
lit. ‘pass off a cat as a hare’
EN Buy a pig in a poke
-
lit. ‘like two drops of water’
EN Like two peas in a pod
-
lit. ‘the cherry on the cake’
EN The icing on the cake
H
-
lit. ‘to have a canine hunger’
EN I could eat a horse
-
lit. ‘to be like an oven’
EN Hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement
M
-
lit. ‘God helps the early riser’
EN The early bird catches the worm
-
Tener a alguien comiendo de la mano
lit. ‘have someone eating out of your hand’
EN Wrap someone around your little finger
-
Tener mariposas en el estómago
lit. ‘have butterflies in your stomach’
EN Butterflies in your stomach
-
lit. ‘lie more than you talk’
EN Lie through your teeth
-
Hacer una montaña de un grano de arena
lit. ‘make a mountain out of a grain of sand’
EN Make a mountain out of a molehill
-
lit. ‘to load the dead body (onto someone)’
EN Pass the buck
N
-
lit. ‘be up to your nostrils’
EN Had it up to here
-
No ver más allá de sus narices
lit. ‘not to see beyond your own nose’
Someone who only knows their own small world and thinks it's everything.
-
lit. ‘to be in the clouds’
EN Have your head in the clouds
O
-
lit. ‘to cost an eye from your face’
EN Cost an arm and a leg
-
No vender la piel del oso antes de cazarlo
lit. ‘don’t sell the bear’s skin before hunting it’
EN Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
-
lit. ‘to be as bored as an oyster’
EN Like watching paint dry
P
-
lit. ‘kill two birds with one shot’
EN Kill two birds with one stone
-
lit. ‘not to give the water a single stroke (of the oar)’
EN Not lift a finger
-
lit. ‘it’s eaten bread’
EN A piece of cake
-
lit. ‘to not know even a potato’
EN Not have the foggiest
-
lit. ‘uncover the pie’
EN Let the cat out of the bag
-
lit. ‘stretch out your leg’
EN Kick the bucket
-
lit. ‘put your paw in it’
EN Put your foot in it
-
lit. ‘to peacock oneself’
EN Blow your own trumpet
-
lit. ‘take someone’s hair’
EN Pull someone’s leg
-
lit. ‘it matters a cucumber to me’
EN I couldn’t care less
-
lit. ‘to make the partridge dizzy’
EN Kick the can down the road
-
lit. ‘for four coins’
EN For peanuts
-
lit. ‘like the dog and the cat’
EN Fight like cat and dog
-
lit. ‘to go out by way of peteneras (a flamenco song)’
EN Go off on a tangent
-
lit. ‘like a fish out of the water’
EN A fish out of water
-
A tiro de piedra
lit. ‘a stone’s throw’
EN A stone’s throw
-
lit. ‘to turn to stone’
EN You could have knocked me down with a feather
-
lit. ‘hen skin’
EN Goosebumps
-
lit. ‘look for three feet on the cat’
EN Split hairs
-
lit. ‘at the fifth pine’
EN The middle of nowhere
-
lit. ‘leave someone planted’
EN Stand someone up
-
lit. ‘to have a hernia’
EN Hit the jackpot
Q
-
lit. ‘take off the door hinge’
EN Get on someone’s nerves
R
-
lit. ‘go off along the branches’
EN Beat around the bush
-
lit. ‘when frogs grow hair’
EN When pigs fly
-
lit. ‘to go past the line’
Don't push it, that's going too far.
-
lit. ‘to fall down round’
EN Keel over
-
lit. ‘to split yourself with laughter’
EN Laugh your head off
S
-
lit. ‘like sardines in a can’
EN Packed like sardines
-
lit. ‘to wind up one’s brains (like thread on a spool)’
EN Rack your brains
-
lit. ‘to go off to the envelope’
EN Hit the sack
-
lit. ‘to be on the floors’
EN Down in the dumps
T
-
lit. ‘to throw the towel’
EN Throw in the towel
-
lit. ‘be missing a screw’
EN To have a screw loose
-
lit. ‘sleep like a log’
EN Sleep like a log
U
-
lit. ‘to be fingernail and flesh’
EN Thick as thieves
V
-
No tener vela en este entierro
lit. ‘not to have a candle at this funeral’
EN Not my circus, not my monkeys