Hello, there! ¿Cómo están ustedes?

I was translating an article from English into Spanish these days and I came across the expression “to lose your train of thought”. I found out I didn’t know how to say that in Spanish so I went to look it up. We say “perder la corriente”.

However, the word corriente has many useful and interesting expressions and I thought I’d share some of them with you today. ¡A estudiar!

Común y corriente / corriente y moliente = run of the mill, nothing unusual, ordinary
Contra corriente = against the current, against the tide
Corriente de pensamiento = current of thought, school of thought
Corriente literaria = literary trend, literary genre
Dar un uso corriente a = to put to everyday use
Dejarse arrastrar/llevar por la corriente = to go with the flow, follow the crowd
Estar al corriente = to be up-to-date, to be informed
Ir con la corriente = to go with the flow
Ir contra corriente = to swim against the tide
La gente corriente = ordinary people, the common man
Mantener al corriente = to update
Normal y corriente = regular, run-of-the-mill
Perder la corriente = to lose one’s train of throught
Ponerse al corriente = to update oneself
Seguir la corriente = to go with the flow
Seguirle la corriente a alguien = to go along with someone
Toma de corriente = power outlet
Un día corriente = a regular day

Some examples:

Tiene una casa común y corriente. [He has a regular house.]

Soy una persona corriente y moliente. [I’m a regular person / an average Joe.]

Ya le he dicho que aunque no le guste, se deje llevar por la corriente y haga lo mismo que todos. [I told him that even if he doesn’t like it, he should go with the flow and do like everybody else.]

Su amigo le puso al corriente de lo que había sucedido en la oficina. [His friend brought him up to speed to what had happened at the office.]

Le dije que te tuviera al corriente de todo lo que pasaba. [I told him to keep me posted on everything that happened.]

Pensaba que me tenías al corriente de tus problemas, pero veo que no. [I thought you kept me informed about your problems, but I see that you don’t.]

Lola puso al corriente sus apuntes. [Lola updated her notes.]

Le gusta ir contra corriente, y decir blanco cuando todos dicen negro. [He likes to go against the flow and say white when everybody says black.]

Es mejor seguirle la corriente y hacer luego lo que a ti te parezca. [You’d better go along with it and then do whatever you want.]

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