/teˌneɾ maɾiˌposas en el esˈtomaɡo/ lit. ‘have butterflies in your stomach’
Spanish idiom, everyday. To feel a nervous, fluttering excitement, before something important or around someone you’re attracted to.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Tener mariposas en el estómago
?
Everyday Spanish that anyone can use. It leans toward being in love, the fluttery feeling before a date or when someone you like walks in, but it also covers ordinary nerves before an exam or a big moment. Conjugate tener or sentir as usual: “tengo mariposas en el estómago”, “sentía mariposas en el estómago cada vez que lo veía”.
Also said sentir mariposas en el estómago
Tener mariposas en el estómago
in real sentences
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Tengo mariposas en el estómago.
I have butterflies in my stomach.
Tatoeba, sentence by erjabi, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Tener mariposas en el estómago
come from?
The same picture lives in English, French, German, Italian and Dutch, so it’s hard to say who had it first, and neither Wiktionary gives a date for the Spanish. Spanish Wikipedia explains the feeling itself: adrenaline pulls blood away from the stomach during a fight-or-flight response, and that drop is what flutters.
Mistakes learners make with Tener mariposas en el estómago
Making the butterfly singular. “Una mariposa en el estómago” sounds like an accident with an insect; the feeling always comes as a swarm, “mariposas”.
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?
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