How do you say “as blind as a bat” in Spanish Posted by Adir on Apr 15, 2013 in Spanish Vocabulary
Hey everybody! Did you have a good weekend?!
We all know that knowing many words and word combinations helps a lot when we are trying to speak a foreign language.
In English we say expressions like
He’s
as blind as a bat.
as cool as a cucumber.
as right as rain.
as mad as a hatter.
In Spanish we also have several comparisons like this too, using más … que (more … than). It is very important that you know them so you can take your Spanish to a whole new level.
Check them out!
más alegre que unas castañelas [happy]
más amarillo que la cera [yellow]
más apretado que guano de cabra [stingy]
más arrugado que una pasa [wrinkled]
más borracho que una cuba [drunk]
más ciego que un topo [blind]
más colorado que un tomate [embarrassed]
más delgado que un fideo [thin]
más derecho que una vela [straight – upright]
más duro que una piedra [hard]
más feo que un coche fúnebre [ugly]
más feo que un dolor de muelas [ugly]
más largo que un día sin pan [long]
más listo que el hambre [ready]
más loco que una cabra [crazy]
más manso que un cordero [docile]
más pesado que una vaca en brazos [annoying]
más terco que una mula [stubborn]
más tonto que hacerle la permanente a un calvo [useless, stupid]
más vago que la chaqueta de un guardia [broad, loose]
más viejo que cagar agachado [old – a little vulgar]
más viejo que Matusalén [old]
Have you ever heard any of the expressions above? Leave a comment and let us know!
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About the Author: Adir
English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.
Comments:
Socrates:
I always thought using mas…que… implies “blindER than a bat” not so much “blind AS a bat” which suggests a comparable blindness. Isn’t the phrase for comparing a quality on an equal level for both subjects “tan…como….”?
Adir:
@Socrates Hi, Socrates! In Spanish we don’t use “tan…como” in some fixed expressions, like the ones presented in the post. A good technique is to pay attention to whenever we see them in texts or audio and try to remember the context and use them, until they become natural. Thanks for commenting! =)
BobK99:
I once knew a Spanish/Peruvian couple (one of each) who used to say ‘más papista que el Papa’. Is that still current?
b
Adir:
@BobK99 Hey! Check out this blog post on the expression ==> http://erasmusv.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/ser-mas-papista-que-el-papa/