40 Funny Spanish Idioms You Need to Learn

If you are learning Spanish, it’s quite likely that you have already heard some confusing expressions. It’s possible that they don’t make sense if you translate them literally into your own language. Maybe you think they don’t seem to make sense in the context of the conversation. Don’t worry, it’s not that you didn’t hear it right, It’s probably just a Spanish idiom.

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What is an idiom anyway?

You use them every day but you’re probably thinking, what is an idiom? Idioms are phrases or fixed expressions that are used with a figurative meaning, rather than the literal meaning. It is estimated that the English language has more than 25,000 idiomatic expressions. Since languages undergo a constant evolution, that number is growing every day.

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Why you have to learn Spanish Idioms

The Spanish language uses many idioms. Some of them have a direct equivalent in other languages, whilst some of them are almost impossible to translate. In some cases, we could guess the meaning of these Spanish expressions when we hear them in context. However, in many cases it’s impossible to understand them if we haven’t heard them before, even if you speak Spanish at a high level.

Most idioms are very typical to the country or region they are from. For a language as widely spoken as Spanish, that means the number of idioms is huge! The sayings and idioms used by Spanish speakers from Spain are different to those used by the population in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia or Venezuela.

Here we have 40 Spanish idioms typical from Spain (although some of them are used internationally). We have classified them in four different groups with a literal translation, their meaning and an equivalent in English.

Spanish idioms with animals

Idiom	Literal translation	Meaning	Equivalent
Tener vista de lince	To have the eyesight of a lynx	Having an excellent vision	Have an eagle eye
Ser un gallina	To be a hen	To be a coward	To be a chicken
Estar en la edad del pavo	To be in the turkey’s age	To be a teenager, to be in puberty	To go through teenage angst
Ser la oveja negra	To be the black sheep	To be good for nothing, to be the unsuccessful one	To go off the rails
Estar como una cabra	To be like a goat	To be crazy	To be mad as a hornet, to be crazy as a bat
No ver tres en un burro	Not being able to see three on a donkey	Having a really bad vision	To be blind as a bat
Dar gato por liebre	To give cat for hare	To trick / rip off someone	To take for a ride
Ser un rata	To be a rat	To be stingy	To be a tightwad
Verle las orejas al lobo	To see the ears of the wolf	To notice danger	To see the writing on the wall
Tener memoria de pez	To have the memory of a fish	To have a bad memory	To have a memory like a sieve

Spanish idioms with food and drinks

Idiom	Literal translation	Meaning	Equivalent
No importar un pepino / un rábano / un pimiento	Not to matter a cucumber / radish / pepper	To be irrelevant	To not give a monkey about it
Ser pan comido	To be eaten bread	To be very easy	To be a piece of cake
Ponerse de mala leche	To get in bad milk	To get in a bad mood	To get bent out of shape
Dar calabazas a alguien	To give pumpkins to someone	To reject someone	To give somebody the brush off
Ser un melón	To be a melon	To be not very intelligent	To be a blockhead
Temblar como un flan	To be shaky like a pudding	To be very nervous	To be a cat on hot bricks
Ponerse como un tomate	To turn into a tomato	To blush	To turn as red as a beetroot
Ser un bombón	To be a bonbon	To be very good looking	To be eye candy
Dar la vuelta a la tortilla	To turn the omelette around	To turn the situation around	To turn the tables
Ser del año de la pera	To be from the year of the pear	To be very old	To be from another era

Spanish idioms with body parts

Idiom	Literal translation	Meaning	Equivalent
Lavarse las manos	To wash your hands	To avoid your responsibility	To pass the bucket
Hacer algo al pie de la letra	To do something to the foot of the letter	Do something exactly as instructed	To do something to the T
No tener ni pies ni cabeza	Without feet or head	Not to make sense	Without rhyme or reason
Meter la pata	To put the leg on it	To make a mistake	To put your foot in it
No pegar ojo	To not strike an eye	Not being able to sleep	Without sleeping a wink
Sin pelos en la lengua	Without hair in your tongue	To be outspoken	Without mince words
Estar hasta las narices	To be up the nose	To be annoyed / tired of something	To be sick to death / fed up
Dormir a pierna suelta	Sleep with a loose leg	To sleep deeply	To sleep like a log
Buscar tres pies al gato	To look for the three feet on a cat	To make something more complicated than it is	To take the scenic route
Andar con pies de plomo	To walk with lead feet	To be very careful	To walk on the safe side

Spanish idioms with colours

Idiom	Literal translation	Meaning	Equivalent
No haber color	There is no colour	There is no comparison	To be like apples and oranges
Tener la negra	To have the black	To have bad luck	To be jinxed
Dar en el blanco	To throw in the white	To be right	To hit the bulls-eye
Verlo todo de color de rosa	To see everything in pink colour	To be everything with excessive optimism	To see all peaches and cream
Buscar el príncipe azul	To look for the blue prince	To look for the perfect man	To look for Prince Charming
Ponerse morado	To get purple	To eat a lot	To eat like a horse
Estar sin blanca	To be without white	To be broke	To be down-and-out
Poner verde a alguien	To turn someone green	To criticize / gossip about someone	To call someone every name in the book
Tener sangre azul	To have blue blood	To be from a royal or very rich family	To be born with a silver spoon in your mouth
Encontrar tu media naranja	To find your half orange	To find the perfect partner	To find your other / better half

When learning a language, it is important to learn not just the formal register, but to be able to understand informal speech. This is the language that we hear in the streets, in social interactions, on TV shows, etc. The best way to learn Spanish online is with a native speaker, as they possess a deep knowledge of their language and how to use it in real life.