Spanish Idiom July 23, 2008

“No pintar nada” literally means “Not to paint anything”. The colloquial meanings are: “not to fit in”; “to be out of place”; and “to cut no ice”.

Spanish Idiom July 22, 2008

“Para este viaje no se necesitan alforjas” literally translates to “for this trip saddlebags are not needed”. The colloquial equivalent is “a fat lot of good that is”.

Spanish Saying June 16, 2008

Here’s a saying that has a very similar counterpart in English: “Los trapos sucios se lavan en casa” literally translates to “the dirty rags are washed at home”. We know this as “don’t wash your dirty linen in public”.

Spanish Saying July 18, 2008

Here’s a saying that perhaps illustrates a greater degree of optimism on the part of Spanish people: “cuando una puerta se cierra, cien se abren”. This translates to “when one door closes, a hundred open up”. The equivalent in English is “when one door closes another always opens”.

Spanish Idiom July 15, 2008

I cannot come up with an idiomatic expression in English for “to be able to sleep anywhere”. In Spanish one would say “dormir hasta en el filo de una navaja”, which literally means “to sleep even on the edge of a razor”.

Spanish Idiom July 2, 2008

When we are prepared to wager everything on one chance we might use the phrase “to put all one’s eggs in one basket” or “to bet the farm”. In Spanish, one equivalent phrase is “jugarselo todo a una carta”, which means “to bet it all on one card”.

Spanish Idiom June 30, 2008

“Estar un poco cargado” literally means “to be a little loaded”. Although we use the term “loaded” to mean “inebriated”, the equivalent phrase in English would be “to be tipsy”.

Spanish Idiom June 19, 2008

In English, when we find someting to be stunning we might use the phrase “to take ne’s breath away”. In Spanish, the equivalent is “quitar el hipo”, which means “to take away the hiccup”.

Spanish Idiom June 18, 2008

“Rana”, which means “frog”, appears in several Spanish idioms and sayings. One of them is “salir rana”, which literally means “to come out frog”. The colloquial meaning is “to fail”, “to misfire” or “to fall through”.

Spanish Idiom June 17, 2008

Here’s an idiom for which it is important to know the difference between “ser” and “estar”. In a previous posting we discussed, for example, the difference between saying a woman “es muy buena” and “esta muy buena”. The first phrase, using “ser” means the woman is good, a permanent attribute. The second version, using “estar” has a colloquial meaning of “she’s looking really good”. If you want to say something is wide, the phrase woulkd be “es muy ancho”. If you say someone “esta muy ancho”, the meaning changes to “he’s smug”.