G A M E - A to Z Spanish Idioms

Question

I don't know about you but I love it when people who have learnt English as a second language use an idiom - it kind of makes me think, wow good on you you've gone a bit further than just getting your verbs and sentence structure right and I get kind of excited for them.

Well I thought maybe a game on Spanish idioms would help us to become more familiar with them and we might be able to start using more in our everyday speech as well

How to play:

1. Click on Newest

2. Copy the letter and English clue/equivalent from the last player's post along with the dashes left to show the words and their length, use this as your heading.

3. The letter shows what the idiom you're looking for should start with.

4. Based on the English clue type the correct Spanish idiom over the dashes (making sure it starts with the appropriate letter and is of the correct length).

5. Then type the next consecutive letter in the alphabet and thinking of a Spanish idiom which starts with that letter, give the English clue and leave the appropriate number of dashes divided into word sections.

Please come back to check whether your idiom has been guessed or not, and if not perhaps add a clue to help us out, gracias

OK, I'll start us off:

A - the contrary, opposite; wrong side of (inside out)

_ _ / _ _ _ _ _ (2/5)

---

You might also like to leave a small clue and try to make sure that your chosen idiom is well known

Good one Kiwi_Girl.. buen pensamiento! :) - sv2qp, Dec 19, 2010

Gracias :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 19, 2010

Nice one yet again MC. x - galsally, Dec 20, 2010

Thanks Sally, hope you've got some goodies for us :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 20, 2010

Wow! I'm amazed that this has progressed as far as it has! This is *extremely* difficult, specially because each country has its own set of idioms. Tough game!! - Gekkosan, Dec 20, 2010

Tell me about it, when I asked Sally for a goody I didn't know she was going to stump us so well! - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 20, 2010

Answer 1

• Don't cry over spilled milk a lo hecho, pecho

• It's no use crying about spilt milk No llores sobre la leche derramada

• No use to cry over spilled milk. De nada sirve llorar sobre la leche derramada.

These are from our phrasebook, but the way I heard it used in an episode of 'Amar en Tiempos Revueltos' was

Inútil llorar sobre la leche derramada.

I particularly like it when I find an idiom which we have in the identical form in English.

Sorry folks! I'd better attempt Margaret's, but I got Sakis' wrong so there you'll all have your revenge upon me!!

Answer 2

To hear about

Oír acerca de

P : come what may

P---/--/---/p--- (4/2/3/4)

Hint:

verb: to happen, to ocurr. Subjunctive mood!

pronoun: masculine (DC)

conjunction

verb: (see above)

nearly, I guess it's the same but I had, oír hablar de :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 23, 2010

Answer 3

come what may

pase lo que pase ---/--/---/p--- (4/2/3/4)

Q: You might exclaim this to wish someone to enjoy themselves.

New: _ _ _ | _ _ | p _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ (3-2-5-4)

Edit: sorry - I got it wrong and fixed it.

Hints:

You can guess what 3-letter word begins with Q.

The third word is second-person singular, subjunctive mood.

Further edit: 5 hours and no takers. I added a one-letter hint above.

Answer 4

H: furious, enraged hacer una hiena _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _ (5,3,5)

lol

I: to be naked

_ _ / _ / _ _ _ _ (2,1,4)

good grief, I can't even get this one!!! - margaretbl, Dec 20, 2010

ir a pelo :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 20, 2010

Wow I've never heard that expression!! - margaretbl, Dec 22, 2010

Answer 5

A - the contrary, opposite; wrong side of (inside out)

al revés _ _ / _ _ _ _ _

B - Under pressure

_ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (4/7)

This is hard to format, and I realized my first idiom was too Venezuelan for most people to get. - KevinB, Dec 19, 2010

ah you should have given it a go, I'm sure it would have been chevere Chamo :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 19, 2010

It was bajarse de la mula. And we really did used to say chévere, chamo. Epa, pana, was popular, too. :-) - KevinB, Dec 19, 2010

by the way, nice formatting, it makes it easy to go back and read through the completed idioms :) gracias - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 19, 2010

Answer 6

B - Under pressure

bajo presión _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (4/7)

C: to be difficult, hard

_ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (6,5,6)

Answer 7

Q: You might exclaim this to wish someone to enjoy themselves.

New: _ _ _ | _ _ | p _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _

No 3 !Qué lo pases bien!

(3-2-5-4)

No 1 ¡ Qué te vayas bien! No 2 ¡Qué te pases bien!

R To be at someone's beck and call

_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ (5,3,5)

Excellent, but you see my hint? "¡Qué lo pases bien!" :) - pesta, Dec 23, 2010

ah I must have been typing at the same time as your comment lol, I just saw the p so I changed it to pases lol - still wrong je je - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 23, 2010

By the way, Marianne's phrasebook entry here has ¡Qué lo pase bien! - pesta, Dec 23, 2010

Is your "pasea" a typo? - pesta, Dec 23, 2010

fixed :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 23, 2010

Answer 8

L Lástima que sea. What a shame!

-------/---/--- 7/3/3

M Some sound advice for life...!

 - - - / - - - - / - - - - - - - - / - - - / - - - - -  (3,4,8,3,5)

This is more of a Phrase than an idiom I think, I was never too good at knowing the difference. :/ - galsally, Dec 23, 2010

That one will be fine but maybe give the English equivalent rather than a clue :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 23, 2010

I forgot about 'better safe than sorry!' I say 'prevention is better than cure', absolute give-away! - galsally, Dec 23, 2010

lol, all good, it doesn't really matter if they're easy to work out as the aim of the game is to remember the idiom, sometimes the easy ones are the good ones :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 23, 2010

Answer 9

Given:

N: To not be correct. To make a mess of things. To not do things right.

N - / - - - / - - - / - - - / - - - - (2,3,3,3,4)

No dar pie con bola.

(thanks for the clues Cogu)

O - to hear about

_ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ (3,6,2)

'bola' :) - cogumela, Dec 23, 2010

ooops, gracias - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 23, 2010

Answer 10

J - Just in time Justo a tiempo (5,1,6)

L

-------/---/--- 7/3/3

what a shame!

whew, sorry, couldn't get the formatting, I''m so lame, Yesero???? - margaretbl, Dec 22, 2010

ah you're doing good Margaret, just colour in the bit you want in a yellow quote box and then hit the "" button - voila! :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 23, 2010

Answer 11

Más vale prevenir que curar

(Better safe than sorry)

N: To not be correct. To make a mess of things. To not do things right.

N - / - - - / - - - / - - - / - - - - (2,3,3,3,4)

Hint:

Adverb

Verb:to offer something to someone

Noun:the part of the body at the bottom of the leg

Preposition

Noun: any object in the shape of a sphere

Answer 12

Ok well even our native speakers don't seem to know Sally's idiom so I'm going to use the double-up idiom to see if we can get past 'I' - here's a nice easy 'J'

I: to be naked Ir de pelo _ _ / _ / _ _ _ _ (2,1,4)

J - Just in time

_ _ _ _ _ / _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ (5,1,6)

PS 'L' will be the next letter :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 22, 2010

Answer 13

H: furious, enraged. Hecho con rabia _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _

I: What's done is done. (Thre's no point in getting upset about it... )

Inútil / _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (6,5,2,5,9)

(I have seen this written a few ways, but I actually heard it said as I've written it.)

maybe we should put the idiom for 'two heads are better than one' je je - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 20, 2010

Need a hint???? - margaretbl, Dec 20, 2010

yes please! - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 20, 2010

Clue given - darn I guessed sakis' clue incorrectly lol! - galsally, Dec 22, 2010

Muy difícil. I have no idea - cogumela, Dec 22, 2010

Ooops what I actually meant was 'I need a hint...' these are hard! - margaretbl, Dec 22, 2010

Answer 14

G: to beat someone to something

ganarse de mano _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ (7,2,4)

H: furious, enraged
_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _ (5,3,5)

lol, well at least we're having fun je je - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 20, 2010

Thats it.. :)) .. unfortunaly something came up.. :( - sv2qp, Dec 20, 2010

no worries you did very well and I've already learnt some nice new idioms, gracias :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 20, 2010

Answer 15

F: out of control Fuera de control _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (5,2,7)

G: to beat someone to something

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ (7,2,4)