/ˌkwando las ˌranas ˌkɾien ˈpelo/ lit. ‘when frogs grow hair’
Spanish idiom, colloquial. It will never happen.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Cuando las ranas críen pelo
?
Colloquial and jokey. Spanish Wiktionary tags it as used in Spain, though it’s widely understood elsewhere. Use it as a sarcastic answer on its own (“¿Que te va a devolver el dinero? Sí, cuando las ranas críen pelo.”) or tack it onto a promise: “lo haré cuando las ranas críen pelo”.
Also said cuando las ranas críen pelos
Cuando las ranas críen pelo
in real sentences
-
Cuando las ranas críen pelo.
When pigs fly.
Tatoeba, sentence by Seael, translation by shekitten, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
Lo haré cuando las ranas críen pelos
I’ll do it when Hell freezes over.
Tatoeba, sentence by sharin, translation by Imp, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Cuando las ranas críen pelo
come from?
Frogs are about as hairless as an animal gets, so the day they grow hair is the day never arrives. That’s the whole joke, and it needs no backstory. Spanish Wiktionary labels it colloquial and humorous from Spain, and the Real Academia’s dictionary lists it. I found no record of its first use.
Mistakes learners make with Cuando las ranas críen pelo
Using the indicative. After “cuando” talking about the future Spanish needs the subjunctive: “críen”, not “crían” or “criarán”.
Other Spanish idioms like Cuando las ranas críen pelo
Spot a mistake in Cuando las ranas críen pelo
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.