/falˌtaɾle un toɾˈniʝo/ lit. ‘be missing a screw’
Spanish idiom, colloquial. Someone is a bit crazy, or is acting as if they’ve lost their mind.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Faltarle un tornillo
?
Colloquial and mostly affectionate, the sort of thing you say about a friend’s wild plan or a neighbour who talks to his car. It works like gustar: the missing screw is the subject and the person goes in front as “le”, “te”, “me”. So: “a ese tío le falta un tornillo”, “¿te falta un tornillo o qué?”.
Also said tener flojos los tornillos, tener un tornillo zafado
Faltarle un tornillo
in real sentences
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¡A ese tío le falta un tornillo!
That guy has a screw loose!
Tatoeba, sentence by primitivo, translation by human600, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Te falta un tornillo.
You’ve lost your marbles.
Tatoeba, sentence by enteka, translation by candistyx, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Faltarle un tornillo
come from?
The idea is a person as a machine with one part missing, so it doesn’t run right. The Real Academia’s dictionary (DLE) lists “faltarle a alguien un tornillo” next to “tener flojos los tornillos”. There’s no record of when it first appeared, and no source says whether it came before or after the English “have a screw loose”.
Mistakes learners make with Faltarle un tornillo
Making the person the subject. “Él falta un tornillo” is wrong; it has to be “(a él) le falta un tornillo”, because grammatically it’s the screw that’s missing from him.
Other Spanish idioms like Faltarle un tornillo
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?
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