/ˌdaɾ ˌɡato poɾ ˈljebɾe/ lit. ‘pass off a cat as a hare’
Spanish idiom, colloquial. To buy or agree to something without checking it first.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Dar gato por liebre
?
Colloquial but used everywhere, including in news headlines about fake products. The cheater is the subject: “te dan gato por liebre”. When you’re the victim, it’s “me dieron (or vendieron) gato por liebre”. It covers any swap of the cheap for the good, from fake olive oil to a used car.
Also said vender gato por liebre, meter gato por liebre
Dar gato por liebre
in real sentences
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Ayer me dieron gato por liebre.
I bought a pig in a poke yesterday.
Tatoeba, sentence by marcelostockle, translation by U2FS, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Nos vendió gato por liebre.
He pulled the wool over our eyes.
Tatoeba, sentence by enteka, translation by Nylez, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Dar gato por liebre
come from?
The usual explanation is the bad name of old inns and roadside eating houses, said to serve cat stewed and passed off as hare. That’s a popular story; I found no record that proves it. The phrase itself is old, and Catalan (donar gat per llebre) and Portuguese (dar or vender gato por lebre) have the same picture, according to English Wiktionary. Popular sources say Cervantes used it in Don Quixote, but I couldn’t check the passage.
Mistakes learners make with Dar gato por liebre
Using it like “buy a pig in a poke” for a careless buyer. The Spanish idea is a con by the seller; “compré gato por liebre” sounds off, so say “me dieron gato por liebre”.
Other Spanish idioms like Dar gato por liebre
Spot a mistake in Dar gato por liebre
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.