/kosˈtaɾ un ˈoxo de la ˈkaɾa/ lit. ‘to cost an eye from your face’
Spanish idiom, everyday. To cost a huge amount of money.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Costar un ojo de la cara
?
Everyday Spanish, fine with anyone and understood all over the Spanish-speaking world. Costar bends as usual (“cuesta”, “costó”, “me costó”), and the person who paid goes in front as an indirect object: “nos costó un ojo de la cara”. It also works for things that were hard to get, beyond money.
Also said costar los ojos de la cara, costar un ojo de la cara y parte del otro
Costar un ojo de la cara
in real sentences
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Cuesta un ojo de la cara.
It costs an arm and a leg.
Tatoeba, sentence by Shishir, translation by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Costó un ojo de la cara.
It cost an arm and a leg.
Tatoeba, sentence by Seael, translation by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Costar un ojo de la cara
come from?
The Real Academia’s dictionary records it as “costar algo los ojos, o un ojo, de la cara”, and French has the same picture in “coûter les yeux de la tête”. A story often repeated in Spanish media says the conquistador Diego de Almagro lost an eye to an arrow around 1524 and told the king that serving the Crown had cost him an eye from his face, but none of the articles telling it cite a primary source, so treat it as legend.
Mistakes learners make with Costar un ojo de la cara
Translating the English. “Cuesta un brazo y una pierna” sounds like a medical bill; in Spanish the price is one eye. Keep it “de la cara” too, not “de mi cara”.
Other Spanish idioms like Costar un ojo de la cara
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