/seɾ ˈuɲa i ˈkarne/ lit. ‘to be fingernail and flesh’
Spanish idiom, everyday. Two people who are very close friends.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Ser uña y carne
?
Everyday and warm, used for friends, siblings or a close couple. It needs a plural or two people: “somos uña y carne”, “Ana y Pilar son uña y carne”. Adding “como” is common and changes nothing.
Also said ser como uña y carne, ser carne y uña
Ser uña y carne
in real sentences
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Somos uña y carne.
We’re very good friends.
Tatoeba, sentence by enteka, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Él y yo somos uña y carne.
He and I are inseparable.
Tatoeba, sentence by tatoerique, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Ser uña y carne
come from?
The picture is a fingernail growing out of the flesh under it, which can’t be pulled apart without pain. English Wiktionary quotes Benito Pérez Galdós using it in Mendizábal (1898), and the RAE lists “ser uña y carne dos o más personas”. No earlier date is recorded.
Mistakes learners make with Ser uña y carne
Using “estar” because it feels like a state. Friendship this close counts as part of who you are, so it’s “ser uña y carne”, never “estar uña y carne”.
Other Spanish idioms like Ser uña y carne
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?
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