/al ke maˌdɾuɡa | ˌdjos le aˈʝuda/ lit. ‘God helps the early riser’
Spanish idiom, everyday. People who get up or get started early are the ones who get the best chances.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Al que madruga, Dios le ayuda
?
A proverb that parents, grandparents and bosses all use, usually to get someone out of bed or to praise a person who started work before everyone else. It’s quoted as a fixed sentence and never conjugated. Spanish also has a cheeky reply to it, “no por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano” (getting up early doesn’t make the sun rise any sooner), which people fire back when they’d rather stay in bed.
Also said a quien madruga, Dios le ayuda, al que madruga, Dios lo ayuda
Al que madruga, Dios le ayuda
in real sentences
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Al que madruga, Dios le ayuda.
God helps those who get up early.
Tatoeba, sentence by Adelpa, CC BY 2.0 FR
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A quien madruga Dios le ayuda.
The early bird catches the worm.
Tatoeba, sentence by Shishir, translation by al_ex_an_der, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Al que madruga, Dios le ayuda
come from?
Old enough that nobody knows who said it first. English Wiktionary lists the dictionary form “a quien madruga, Dios le ayuda”, and a collection of Spanish proverbs on Wikisource glosses it as advice to be diligent in business. Madrugar comes from Vulgar Latin *maturicare, linked to Latin maturare (to hurry), according to English Wiktionary, so getting up early started out as hurrying.
Mistakes learners make with Al que madruga, Dios le ayuda
Translating the English bird. “El pájaro madrugador atrapa el gusano” will be understood as a translation, but nobody grows up saying it; the Spanish proverb gives the credit to God, and the verb madrugar (to get up early) does all the work in one word.
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?
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