12 (+1) Spanish fixed phrases
1-!Qué pena!-What a shame!
When we are disappointed about something, as someone can’t make it to one of our parties, it is a typical wildcard to use, or when someone is telling us something bad and we want they to feel our sympathy.
The same way we can say “es una pena”, “it is a shame”
2-!Ojalá!-I wish
As the English equivalent says, it express a wish, something we really want, but we are not sure it will happen, or most of the times we are certain at all it won’t like
!Ojalá ganara lotería!-“I wish I won the lottery”
Or if someone ask if we are free tomorrow night and we need to work we will reply
!ojalá! Por desgracia tengo que trabajar-“I wish!Unfortunately I need to work.”
3-¿A quién le importa?-who cares?
Used exactly in the same way that the English equivalent, what we do not care about something, or we think is not important
Like this week, everyone is talking about the eurocup this week, but you just do not like football, you just watch the matches as an excuse to drink with friends,
-¿A quién le importa el partido?!Yo estoy aquí para pasar un buen rato!-“Who cares about the match?I just here to have a good time”
4-Me apetece-I feel like
When like the sentence says, you feel like doing something,
Me apetece ir al cine hoy, “I feel like going to the cinema today”
in some case in the food context in can be translated as “to be craving”
Me apetece comida china hoy-“I am craving Chinese today”
5-Tener mocos-to have a runny nose
When we have a bit of a cold in Spanish we do not have a runny nose, we “tenemos mocos”
6- alucino contigo-You blow my mind
It is very slang, and the translations here are so many and they vary for every context, but it is use when someone surprise you, it can be in the good or in the bad way
7-yo que tú-If I were you
When someone ask for advice, or even if they do not but we want to give our advice anyway we will say
Si yo fuera tú…..-“If I were you….”
8- tiempo de sobra-Plenty of time
When you just have spare time (or you think you do, because most of the time that will end up in running late 🙂 )
Note*-you can use “de sobra” also when you have plenty of anything, like “comida de sobra”, “dinero de sobra”…..
9-Las noticias vuelan. News travels fast
When have done something and suddenly everyone knows, or if someone has new and you hear them from someone who is not the people involved
If you hear one of your friends is getting married but he has not telling you yet, probably you text him saying
“Enhorabuena, ya me he enterado, ya sabes que las noticias buenas”-“Congrats, I have heard already, you know news travel fast.”
10-comerse el coco/tarro-To worry one´s head off
When you think obsessively something, most of the time something that does not really matter, or it is not that important
!Deja de comerte el coco, lo que tenga que ser sera!-“Stop worrying your head off!Whatever to be will be!”-Spanish philosophy 🙂
11-Alto y claro- Clear as a bell
If you are talking by phone, internet etc…and someone ask you if you can hear them (connection problems, who does not have them!) , you could say “alto y claro” “clear as a bell”, If you do not have any problems
As well can be use if someone is repeating the same a lot, normally teenagers which want to go to a party or arrive later one weekend and the mum says no several times, and even before they leave the house the day of the party, they could say
Te he oido alto y claro, no hace falta que lo repitas”-“I heard you clear as a bell, there is not need to repeat it”
12-!Cuánta razón tenías!- How right you were! = cuanta razón tenias!
One of the favourite sentences women (and I am sure men too) love to hear.
That is all “so far”, hasta ahora, here is the (+1) and it is an important now, as it is quite tricky to remember as people always try to translate and end up saying “así lejos” or something similar, so make a special note in this one 🙂
HOMEWORK-Try to think and example in which you will use each of the phrases above (it does not need to be the same day, do a couple, take a break and come back to this post tomorrow) but when you actually create the situation in your mind is easy to retain the meaning, so get your imagination ready, give it a go! And let us know how it went 🙂
And now, over to you, I would love to hear from you, do you have a Spanish favourite fixed phrases? Do you know any more that could help other learners? do you have a phrase you use all the time and you would like to know the Spanish equivalent? Leave a comment and I will get back to you 🙂
Did you find this useful? Do not keep it as a secret, share it with family and friends, spread the Spanish language around “the more the merrier”-“cuantos más mejor” 🙂
Write to you next week.