/menˌtiɾ ˌmas ke aˈblaɾ/ lit. ‘lie more than you talk’
Spanish idiom, colloquial. To lie shamelessly while knowing full well it isn’t true.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Mentir más que hablar
?
Colloquial, said about a person, not a single lie: “ese tipo miente más que habla”. Both verbs take the same person, so they change together: “mientes más que hablas”, “mentía más que hablaba”. It’s an exaggeration on purpose, since you can’t tell more lies than you say words, and that’s the joke.
Mentir más que hablar
in real sentences
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Miente más que habla.
He lies more than he talks.
Tatoeba, sentence by enteka, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Estefanía miente más que habla.
Estefanía lies more than she talks.
Tatoeba, sentence by Seael, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Mentir más que hablar
come from?
No history is recorded in the sources I checked. English Wiktionary lists it as an idiom meaning to lie like a rug, and the picture is plain arithmetic: more lies come out of the person than words. On Tatoeba, the sentence “Miente más que habla” is linked to the French “Il ment comme un arracheur de dents” and the German “Er lügt wie gedruckt”, the two other idioms in this group.
Mistakes learners make with Mentir más que hablar
Forgetting that mentir changes its stem. It’s “miente” and “mientes”, not “mente” and “mentes”, and “mente” happens to be the Spanish word for mind.
Other Spanish idioms like Mentir más que hablar
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?
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