Spanish idiomatic expressions: crazy comparisons

How I wanted to write this article!

Today we are going to talk about one of the things I like the most: idiomatic expressions in Spanish.

Do you want to know what they are?

Well, do not take off the screen because surely with this post you will learn the most common ones.😄

¿What are idioms?

idioms, also calls phrases vocabulary o Spanish idioms, are composed of several words that together create a new meaning.

Often this meaning is not easy to guess, making it a very interesting vocabulary to learn. 

Most of these Spanish expressions they are colloquial. The Spanish We use them a lot in our day to day orally.

Today we are going to see four types of idioms:

• Idioms about food.
• Idiomatic expressions with animals.
• Idiomatic expressions with parts of the body.
• Idioms with colors.

All are popular phrases, I hope you like them!

Idioms about food

Let's start with food. we have a lot of spanish phrases on this topic. 😋

be a piece of bread

¿you are very good person?

Surely yes. So we can say that you are a piece of bread.

Why eat it like this?

Because the bread is very good. As simple as that.

be like a cheese

You like cheese?

We Spanish love it. We consider it as a delicacy.

Therefore, when we see someone who is very physically attractive we say that it's like cheese.

Resemble like an egg to a chestnut

How are an egg similar to a chestnut?

Nothing, right?

When two things have no similarity we use this idiom: resemble a chestnut like an egg. 

So that you understand it better. Let's see these and others idioms with examples.

For example: 

• Pedro and Maite are siblings, but they resemble a chestnut like an egg. I mean, they are very different.

be a sausage 

To the thief!

When someone steals something we can call it a thief or, in a more colloquial and fun way, sausage.

For example:

• He has stolen my wallet. He is a sausage!

give someone pumpkins 

Have you ever been rejected by a person you really liked?

In this case we say that they have given us pumpkins.

How bad it is when this happens, right? 😪

For example:

• José declared his love to Lucía, but she turned him down because she is not in love with him.

Ask the elm for pears

Pears grow on pear trees, not elm trees.

They are totally different trees.

So that's what happens when we ask for things that are impossible to obtain or pretend to do something that is very difficult to obtain.

For example: 

• If you don't eat healthy or play sports, you can't be thinner. Don't ask the elm for pears.

be in a bad mood

There are people that when they get angry it becomes very serious and grumble.

There are even some people who are charming, but when they get angry it changes their character completely, in a negative way.

We say that they are in bad temper.

When this happens, it is better to leave those people alone and not disturb them, because we can receive an unpleasant response.

eat the coconut 

we say that someone eat the coconut when thinks too much about something, has trouble making decisions, thinks a lot... 

That is, people who spend a lot of time in their mental world eat the coconut.

Do you eat coconut a lot?

uncover the cake 

When a secret had been hidden for a long time y finally revealed to the public, we say that the cake is revealed.

For example:

• It is already known why Alfonso finally did not want to get married... He had a lover! The cake of all this soap opera has already been discovered.

be a hottie

be a hottie is another idiom meaning that a person is very pretty or attractive. 

We have many expressions for this. 🤣

Animal Idioms 

Animals They are also very recurring to create fun expressions in spanish.

do you want to see some examples of idioms with animals?

Of course!

Get bored like an oyster 

What do they do the oysters?

They are usually stuck to the rocks by the sea.

How boring, right?

Well... when you get really bored, can you say that.

For example: 

• When I wait in line at the supermarket, I get bored like a shell.

pay the duck

Unfortunately, sometimes life is not fair and they point us out as guilty of something we have not done.

In that case we pay the price.

For example: 

• Although Lara was not to blame, she was the one who paid the price and received the anger from her boss.

be a lynx

There are people who are very clever and observant. They keep all the details and they learn everything easily.

they are lynxes. 😼

Do you have any friends like that?

Or do you yourself consider yourself a lynx?

It is certainly a very positive thing.

Be as blind as a bat

Be as blind as a bat means that a person has trouble seeing well.

The origin of this idiomatic expression dates back to rural Spain at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. 

Because most of the people in the villages in those days were illiterate, medical vision tests were done with images, and not with letters.

One of the images was a donkey with three boys on top, hence his expression.

be a dead fly

be a fly dead refers to people who they seem very innocent and harmless, but deep down they hide a manipulative and mischievous character.

be a lapdog

Do you know the expression suck up to someone?

Well... be someone's lapdog It's very similar.

It is said when a person flatters another person excessively and with too much repetition. 

Normally whoever does this is because they are looking for an interest in that person.

be like a goat

be like a goat means that someone is crazy or doing things that are not normal.

For example:

• Javier likes to make anonymous calls to people he doesn't know and play pranks on them. He is like a goat.

Be a dog or do the dog

If a person is very lazy and she loves lying on the sofa watching nonsense on her mobile, we say that it's a dog or that he likes to do the dog.

That is, he is a very lazy person and it is difficult for him to start doing things that require effort.

be very cute

We all know someone who It is very cute.

Are those people who are very pretty because of their way of being or because of their physical appearance.

They are people who always want to hug. 🐼

For example: 

• Julia has a very sweet voice and talks like a girl. She is very cute.

Idioms with parts of the body

Do body parts also have idioms?

That's right, let's see some of these expressions and their meaning.

Give a helping hand

lending a hand means help someone.

Ever has helped a friend to make the move?

Or have you been a driver for a relative because they did not have a car?

Or have you helped a coworker finish their work?

Surely you have ever done one of these generous actions.

So we say that you have lent a hand.

Don't have a fool's hair

Not having a fool's hair is said of one very smart person or smart

He is a person who has a lot of life experience and you can't fool him or manipulate.

In an exaggerated way we say that not even a single hair on his body would be fooled. 😏

To bite your tongue

Tell me if it has happened to you:

You are at a gathering of friends and one is saying something that you think is incorrect or that you do not agree with.

You are about to start a discussion but you think it is better to have the meeting in peace and that is why you do not say your opinion. 

You do not say anything, you bite your tongue because you know that if you say that comment you can create an uncomfortable situation and sometimes it's not worth it.

Work side by side

When you work together with someone It is said that work side by side.

For example: 

• Julio and Raquel design all the products together and they do very well. Without a doubt, they know how to work side by side.

Waking up with the left foot

Have you ever had days when everything goes wrong?

Those days of authentic bad luck from the time you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night.

In those days we say that you got up on the wrong foot.

Not having two fingers in front 

Can you imagine a person with a forehead so small that you couldn't even put two fingers on it?

It would be super weird, right?

It would seem that this person had almost no brains and was not very smart.

When we say that someone does not have two fingers of brain means it's a not intelligent person. 

Or, as we say informally, a little short person.

Be hand in glove

two people who are inseparable and understand each other to perfection they are Flesh and Bone.

For example:

• I love the complicity between Pepe and Lola. Just by looking at each other they understand each other. It shows that they are thick and thin.

Go by head

There are times that we are very stressed with work, studies or other tasks.

We see that we don't have enough time to do everything we need to do. that's when let's head.

It's a very overwhelming feelingianyou and nasty.

For example: 

• Since I started working at this company, I've been head over heels because every day they ask me for new tasks that I don't have time to finish.

talk behind the back

talk behind the back of someone is a deplorable action that must be avoided.

Es criticize someone without them being present and can not defend.

Very bad!

cost an arm and a leg

have you ever bought something very expensive?

Too expensive?

So you can say that that thing is so expensive that you It has cost an arm and a leg. 👀

When something costs a lot of money, we use this expression. Sometimes we change the organ of the body and say that cost a kidney

idioms with colors

And we come to the last popular expressions from today: expressions with colors

Want to know a few examples of idioms in spanish on this issue?

¡Vamos a ello!

turn red

There are people who when feel embarrassed or shy they turn red because the blood is concentrated in the face.

That's why we literally say turn red or in a funnier way get like a tomato. 🍅

be the red lantern

We continue with the color red. 

be the red lantern It's kind of sad because it means you're the person who occupies the last position in something, usually in a sports competition.

The origin of this expression comes from the red lights that are usually in the last car of the trains.

spend the night in white

Sometimes we are so worried that our mind can't stop thinking and we don't fall asleep.

spend the night in white means sleepless night.

I hope this doesn't happen to you often.

be broke

I don't want you to be broke either.

be broke means have hardly any money or savings.

be prince charming

In almost every little princess tale there is a handsome and strong prince who saves the damsel in distress and marries her.

That perfect man is prince charming.

Have you found it yet?

If so, how lucky are you!

be of blue blood

It is said that a person is blue blooded when his family belongs to royalty.

And why blue blood?

Because in the past, white skin was associated with a luxurious and venerable life, since it was ordinary citizens who worked in the sun and became tanned.

When you have white skin, the blue veins are more marked. Hence the name blue blood.

turn purple

To turn purple is to eat a lot. 

In Spain we all wear purple at Christmas lunches and dinners, or at weddings.

We love to eat and drink.

What can we do? 😋

be green in something

If we start working on a new site, surely we will be green in our tasks.

You're green on something when You lack experience in what you do and that is why you are going to make mistakes.

But it is normal, it is part of learning to be green at the beginning.

No one knows everything.

be like a rose

Normally we associate the color pink with good and happy things.

be like a rose It's actually a positive. It means being healthy and energetic.

For example:

• Juan works 9 hours a day, then he goes to the gym to train and at night he studies for the oppositions. And yet, he is like a rose and wants to meet for a drink and talk. Is incredible.

see life in rose color

the people who see life in pink is optimistic and generally cheerful. 

These people always see the opportunities in life and the good side of things.

activities to practice

this has been ours list of idioms in spanish.

I hope you liked them.

Take notes because really, they are typical Spanish phrases and we use them a lot. If you manage to learn some and use them, your Spanish will sound much more natural. 😉

Of course, these are not the only ones. There are many more.

If you want to know more expressions and become an expert in the Spanish language, come to our face-to-face Spanish courses or to our online Spanish courses. 

Now we are going to practice with some idioms activity.

Activity 1

Write the names of the idioms under each picture.

You can see the solutions below or in the light bulb icon of the exercise itself.