Each Spanish idiom below comes with what its words literally say, what it means and how other languages put the same idea. To see every language at once, open the side-by-side page for money and luck.
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lit. ‘for four coins’
For a very small amount of money.
Elsewhere
- EN For peanuts
- FR Pour des cacahuètes
- DE Für ’n Appel und ’n Ei
- IT Per un tozzo di pane
- JA 雀の涙
-
lit. ‘to cost an eye from your face’
To cost a huge amount of money.
Elsewhere
-
lit. ‘pass off a cat as a hare’
To buy or agree to something without checking it first.
Elsewhere
-
lit. ‘to have a hernia’
To be lucky, often by pure chance.
Elsewhere
- EN Hit the jackpot
- FR Avoir de la veine
- DE Schwein haben
- IT Nascere con la camicia
- JA 棚からぼたもち
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lit. ‘cross the fingers’
To hope that things turn out well.
Elsewhere
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No vender la piel del oso antes de cazarlo
lit. ‘don’t sell the bear’s skin before hunting it’
Don't count on a good result before it has actually happened.
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lit. ‘when frogs grow hair’
It will never happen.
-
lit. ‘to be lined’
To have a lot of money.
Elsewhere
- EN Have money to burn
- FR Rouler sur l’or
- DE Geld wie Heu haben
- IT Nuotare nell’oro
- JA 懐が暖かい
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lit. ‘to be without a blanca (an old coin)’
To have no money at all.
Elsewhere
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Estar entre la espada y la pared
lit. ‘to be between the sword and the wall’
To be in trouble or a difficult situation.
Elsewhere
Phrases in bold with a red marker are written up. The rest don’t have their own page yet.