Proverbs & idioms · Refranes

8 Spanish words — each with a picture, audio and an example sentence. Sayings you can't decode word by word — each with its English counterpart.

English	Spanish · Español	Notes
a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush	más vale pájaro en mano que ciento volando	Literally '…than a hundred flying' (ciento) — Spanish raises two birds to a hundred.
where there's smoke, there's fire	cuando el río suena, agua lleva	Literally 'when the river makes noise, it carries water'.
barking dogs don't bite	perro que ladra no muerde	From ladrar 'to bark' and morder 'to bite'; proverbs drop the article: perro, not el perro.
kill two birds with one stone	matar dos pájaros de un tiro	Literally 'to kill two birds with one shot'.
cost an arm and a leg	costar un ojo de la cara	Literally 'to cost an eye from the face'.
don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today	no dejes para mañana lo que puedas hacer hoy	Negative commands take the subjunctive: no dejes, not no deja.
better late than never	más vale tarde que nunca	Más vale… is the set 'better…' formula; the same opening as the bird-in-hand proverb.
silence is golden	en boca cerrada no entran moscas	Literally 'flies don't enter a closed mouth'.