Miguitas de español
Want To Sound More Like A Native Speaker? Learn Some Spanish Idioms And Get An Insight Into Spanish Culture!
The literal meaning of Miguitas de español is “Spanish crumbs”. Here you’ll find a list of some of the most common Spanish expressions and idioms, little miguitas that will help you boost your conversational skills and feel more confident when speaking Spanish.
We’re constantly updating the list, so keep an eye on this page! Choose the ones that you like the most and try to use them in real-life conversations or in your lessons! 🙂
A
A grito pelado = at the top of one’s lungs
In Spanish, ‘pelado’ means ‘bald’(literally ‘peeled’), i.e. without any cover or protection – so here ‘a grito pelado’ signifies a scream with no restrictions whatsoever!
Anoche escuché una pelea entre los vecinos. Se estaban insultando a grito pelado.
B
Bajarse de las nubes = to get your head out of the clouds! (to be realistic)
Nubes are clouds and bajarse means ‘to come down from’, so this expression is quite obvious. To keep your feet on the ground expresses the same idea in English.
Marcos tiene que bajarse ya de las nubes y aceptar que María nunca volverá a ser su novia.
C
Comerse el coco = to worry/to over-think about a situation
In Spanish, we can use the word ‘coco’ (coconut) as slang for the head, so comerse el coco really means to eat one’s own head by worrying, stressing or over-thinking about a situation!
No te comas el coco con eso. No es tan grave y tiene fácil solución.
D
Dejarse llevar = to get carried away
Dejarse means ‘leave’ (in the context of ‘leave something behind’, rather than ‘exit a place’) and llevar means ‘to take away’ (very useful language for restaurant leftovers…) – so the
literal translation here would be ‘to leave/allow oneself to be taken away’ with emotion.
Es fácil dejarse llevar por la emoción del momento, pero no olvidemos que este gasto será uno de los más grandes en la historia de esta empresa.
E
Echar una siesta = to take a nap
Echar means many things in Spanish, one of which is ‘to start doing’ something. We can also say ‘tomar (to take) una siesta’ here too.
Todos los días me levanto a las 4 de la mañana. Por la tarde siempre necesito echar una siesta porque si no, no aguanto despierto el resto del día.
F
Faltar un tornillo = to have a screw loose! (to be crazy)
Faltar means ‘to not have/to lack’ something, a very useful verb!
¿Fuiste a su casa a las 3 de la mañana para pedirle matrimonio? ¡A ti te falta un tornillo!
G
Ganar terreno = literally: to gain ground (to make progress)
Ganar means to win, to gain or to earn something, and terreno has the same roots as the English terrain.
La compañía ganó mucho terreno al lanzar ese proyecto.
H
Hacer la vista gorda = to turn a blind eye
La vista is ‘the view’ and gorda means ‘fat’ (or ‘enormous’ in a colloquial sense). So hacer la vista gorda means to deliberately not see the illegal or immoral things that are happening, you’re simply looking at the clouds and enjoying the view!
Muchas celebridades defraudan a Hacienda y no pagan los impuestos que les corresponden, pero el Estado hace la vista gorda.
I
Irse la olla (colloquial) = to lose the plot (to lose your mind)
Una olla is a cooking pot, one you’d make stews with. Irse means ‘to leave (to exit a place)’, so here you’re leaving your dinner (the situation) to burn as you’ve decided to head off and do something else (in a figurative sense).
Se le fue la olla y dejó su trabajo y ahora viaja por Australia en caravana.
J
Jalar (colloquial) = to eat
Jalar comes from inhalar (literally ‘to inhale’), meaning to ‘wolf down’ or ‘devour’
something. Imagine what you’d do to a plate of huevos rotos con chorizo the morning after a heavy night of fiesta…
Hoy no he desayunado y son las 3 de la tarde. Necesito jalar algo o me voy a desmayar.
K
Kilo(gramo) = kilogram
La fruta ha subido muchísimo de precio. Ahora los plátanos están a 3€/kilo.
L
Lavarse las manos = to wash one’s hands
Careful here! ‘Mano’ is actually a feminine noun, meaning it needs the ‘la’ article; a very easy mistake to make! It can be literal or used figuratively, when you want no further part of a situation.
Yo no he creado este conflicto con el cliente, fue Teresa. Yo me lavo las manos.
M
Meter la pata = to put your foot in it
If you’re a human, you have pies (feet) but if you have four legs you have patas (paws). Use this expression if you have put your pata into a very uncomfortable situation…
En la reunión le dije al jefe que Yolanda había aceptado una oferta de trabajo en la
competencia. Creo que he metido la pata.
N
¡Naranjas de la china! = no way!
This expression is a strange one but it originates from the idea that people used to believe that it would be impossible to import oranges all the way from China without them being rotted and ruined. Hence, if somebody presented you with a tray of perfect oranges that had come from China, you might not believe them!
-Creo que deberías llamar a Luis y pedirle disculpas.
-¡Naranjas de la china! Todo ha sido culpa suya y yo no tengo que pedirle disculpas a nadie.
O
Oler a chamusquina = to smell a rat/to be “fishy”
Chamusquina is the smell of something that has been burned, coming from the verb
chamuscar, meaning ‘to scorch’. Oler means ‘to smell’ and it definitely doesn’t smell good…
Me han llamado del banco y me han hecho muchas preguntas extrañas. Esto me huele a chamusquina. Creo que es una estafa.
P
Pan comido = piece of cake
Eaten bread is a strange translation but it signifies a very easy situation or simple solution to something. There is some dispute over the origin of this phrase, but some think it originated during the Spanish civil war, when bread was one of the easiest foodstuffs to come by. You didn’t need any additional ingredients or a fire for cooking, if you were hungry the solution was right there in front of you!
Pensaba que sería imposible convencer a Sandra para que se quedara en la empresa, pero al final ha sido pan comido.
Q
¡Qué nivel, Maribel! = how fancy!
We like our rhymes in Spanish (much like ‘easy peasy’ or ‘whatever Trevor!’ in English) and here we’re congratulating our friend Maribel on the amazing quality of something. (Nivel =‘level’, so we’re literally saying that’s something’s of the highest level of quality).
-Me he comprado una casa de 7 dormitorios en Hampstead.
-¿En serio? ¡Qué nivel, Maribel!
R
Rajarse (coloquial) = to back out
Rajar means many things (rip, tear, slice, slash…) but perhaps the best translation in this sense is ‘split’. If you split with your partner, you back out of the relationship. Perhaps you agreed to a plan initially, but at the last minute you decided to split and went your own way -we would use rajar here.
Marta dijo que ayudaría a organizar la fiesta, pero al final se rajó y nos dejó solos.
S
Sacar de quicio = to wind/rile someone up
El quicio is a doorframe or hinge-post. Similarly to English, if somebody becomes furious you could say they came ‘unhinged’. Sacar means ‘to take out’, so to take a door out of a door-frame you literally have to ‘un-hinge’ it.
Jose siempre tiene algo por lo que protestar. Me saca de quicio.
T
Tener ganas = to feel like/to look forward to something/to be “in the mood for” something
Ganas is such an important word in Spanish! It loosely translates as ‘desire for’ something, so tener ganas is to “be up for/in the mood for (doing) something.
¿Tienes ganas de tomar
una cerveza?
El próximo mes nos vamos a Tailanda 3 semanas. ¡Tengo muchas ganas!
U
Un huevo = a lot/a ton
We love our eggs in Spain, so much that we use the word huevo for ‘a lot/a ton’. We even have an expression: ‘¡te quiero un huevo!’.
Estos días estoy súper ocupada, tengo un huevo de cosas que hacer.
V
Vender la moto = to take someone for a ride/to pull the wool over someone’s eyes.
In English, you’re familiar with the idea of selling somebody ‘magic beans’, well in Spanish we use the same idea with a motorbike. If someone tries to sell you ‘la moto’, they’re trying to take advantage of you, lie to you or trick you in some way – be careful!
No me vendas la moto. Sé que fuiste tú el que rompió la impresora.
W
Western = a Western movie
Luckily if you’re a wannabe vaquero or gaucho you don’t have to translate this word from English, we use yours!
Mi western favorito es La Diligencia, con John Wayne.
X
Xilófono = xylophone
Much like in English, we have hardly any words that begin with “x” (maybe the Basques do…) so this one’s easy.
En la clase de música el xilófono es el instrumento que más me gusta tocar.
Y
Ya te digo = tell me about it
The literal translation of this phrase is “I already told you”, meaning that you share the same opinion with the person you’re talking to (‘ya’ means ‘already’).
-Está haciendo un tiempo horrible estos días. No se puede ni salir de casa.
-¡Ya te digo!
Z
Zampar (colloquial) = to scoff/scarf something down See ‘jalar’.
Estos niños zampan galletas sin parar.