When learning a language, it is often helpful to have a small stock of common phrases. Instantly understood and useful in many circumstances, memorizing a few of these short phrases builds confidence in your ability to communicate naturally in various situations. They’re also usually pretty funny, and while not all of them can be directly translated, they all have English equivalents. .

long term/short term

In the long term and in the short term, they are used just as they would be in English.

Who goes wrong, ends badly

He who lives in disorder comes to a bad end. This could be compared to living by the sword, dying by the sword.

Raise Cain

Literally this means screaming loud enough to reach the sky, but in English one would only hit the ceiling.

to die with the boots on

While the saying literally means to die with your boots on, it can be compared to the English phrase to die in the saddle. In other words, die working hard.

It is good to speak, but it is better to be silent

Speech is good, but silence is better. Similar to ‘silence is golden’ in English, where advice means to keep your own advice. thought.

Not for much getting up early dawns earlier

Like the fable of the tortoise and the hare, this saying has the meaning of slow and steady wins the race.

new Year New Life

New year, new life: Unsurprisingly, this saying is used to welcome in the New Year.

A lot of hunger, there is no hard bread

This feeling is similar to that beggars cannot choose or hunger makes good cooking; the most direct translation is for those who are very hungry, no bread is too hard.

It’s something; less is nothing.

Something is something, less is nothing or, as we would say in English, half of something is better than nothing at all.

Like (that) two and two its fourThis literally translates as two and two make four, although we are more likely to say as sure as the day is long or as sure as the gun is iron or any of the similar phrases that exist for this sentiment in English.

I hope that this short sample of popular Spanish phrases encourages you to continue with the Spanish course that you have chosen to follow.