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Memorize Spanish Idioms, Proverbs and Emotions: 245 Flashcards from Tomar el Pelo to A lo Hecho, Pecho

Memorize 245 Spanish idioms, refranes and emotion words from real flashcards, with fixes for a false gloss, duplicates, regional usage and emotion-word traps.

Spanish fan, bull horns and comedy-tragedy masks on floating flashcards for Spanish idioms and emotions

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Tomar el pelo (to pull someone's leg), meter la pata, estar hasta las narices: Spanish idioms are where textbook Spanish starts to sound alive. Deck DP6983 – Spanish Idioms, Proverbs & Emotions (245 cards) packs three distinct blocks: 97 English idioms with their Spanish equivalents, 50 refranes (proverbs) to decode, and 98 emotion words.

Study this deck: Spanish Idioms, Proverbs & Emotions

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Question

to pull someone's leg

Knew itLearning

Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not

Sample cards

FrontBack
to cost an arm and a legcostar un ojo de la cara
to get up on the wrong side of the bedlevantarse con el pie izquierdo
speak of the devilhablando del rey de Roma
to catch someone red-handedpillar con las manos en la masa
to be broke (no money)estar sin blanca / estar pelado
What does 'A caballo regalado no se le mira el diente' mean?Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
What does 'A lo hecho, pecho' mean?What's done is done / Face the music
homesicknostálgico / con morriña

What you'll learn

Idioms: dormir como un tronco, pan comido, romper el hielo, dar en el clavo, irse de la lengua, echar leña al fuego, andarse por las ramas, descubrir el pastel, coger el toro por los cuernos, dar plantón, tirar la toalla, la gota que colma el vaso, llover a cántaros, estirar la pata, estar criando malvas, pasarlo bomba, tener resaca, perder la chaveta, quemarse las pestañas, llegar a fin de mes. Proverbs: a quien madruga Dios le ayuda, dime con quién andas, no hay mal que por bien no venga, de tal palo tal astilla, donde fueres haz lo que vieres, a la tercera va la vencida, aunque la mona se vista de seda, a falta de pan buenas son tortas. Emotions: enfadado/enojado, avergonzado, celoso vs envidioso, esperanzado, añoranza, rencor, arrepentimiento, conmovido, desanimado.

Three fixes before you start

  1. Correct one false gloss. Card 15 renders "to be on cloud nine" as estar en las nubes — but that means to have your head in the clouds (daydreaming). The right answer is already on card 8: estar en el séptimo cielo. Rewrite card 15 as "to daydream → estar en las nubes".
  2. Merge the duplicates. Cards 6 and 13 both give pan comido; card 37 and proverb 117 both give más vale tarde que nunca. Keep one of each. And note that card 65, llorar sobre la leche derramada, is understood but a calque — the native reflex is proverb 100, a lo hecho, pecho.
  3. Watch the regional mix. Most idioms are Peninsular (pillar, estar pachucho, coger el tranquillo, sin blanca), while enojado and canasta lean Latin American. In Mexico, avoid coger entirely — say agarrar el toro por los cuernos.

A tip for the emotion block

Learn every adjective with estar and both endings: estoy cansado / cansada, está preocupada. Two traps hide in the block: avergonzado appears for both "ashamed" and "embarrassed" — never say embarazada (pregnant) — and simpatía (card 200) means likeability, not sympathy; for condolences use mi más sentido pésame or compasión. Excited is emocionado, never excitado.

Study the blocks in order: emotions first (fast wins), then idioms in batches of 20, then proverbs as reading cards.

For more traps of this kind, see Spanish Slang and False Friends.

Open deck DP6983 in the Flip It library to start.

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