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An idiom is an expression used to illustrate an idea or reflection on life.
They are commonly used in all languages but can not be translated literally from one to another, making them impossible to understand if you mearly look them up word for word, for example if you tried to look up ` me estas tomando el pelo´ you would get `you are taking my hair´ which wouldn’t mean a lot to most people, but if it’s true translation `your pulling my leg´ be known you’d understand straight away what someone was trying to say.
Here are some amusing idiomatic expressions for you to learn and use whenever you may want to. The head word has been translated to the English equivalent and i´ve also translated the idiom literally in brackets as well, just for the laugh.
el garbanzo – chickpea
ser el garbanzo negro de la familia ( to be the black chickpea of the family)
to be the black sheep of the family.
la naranja – orange
naranjas de la china ( oranges from china)
nonsense/rubbish
la rueda – the wheel
todo marcha sodre ruedas ( everything going on wheels)
everythings going smoothly
gallina – hen
matar la gallina de los huevos de oro ( to kill the hen that lays eggs of gold)
to kill the golden goose
la lechuga – lettuce
estar como una lechuga ( to be like a lettuce)
to look a picture of health
la mano – hand
una mano lava la otra ( one hand washes the other)
you scratch my back, i´ll scratch yours
la morcilla – black sausage
¡ que te den morcilla! ( may they give you black sausage)
get stuffed!
la patata – potato
ser una patata ( to be a potato)
to be a lemon
la pulga – the flea
hacer de una pulga un elefante ( to make an elephant out of a flea)
to make a mountain out of a mole hill
la ropa – clothes
hay ropa tendida ( there are clothes on the line)
walls have ears
la tierra – earth
besar la tierra ( kiss of earth)
to fall flat
la vida – life
tener siete vidas ( to have seven lives)
to have nine lives
el sabañón – chilblain
comer como un sabañón ( eat like a chilblain)
to eat like a horse
el zapato – shoe
saber donde aprieta el zapato ( know where the shoe pinches)
know where the problem lies
el infierno – hell
vivir en el quinto infierno ( to live in fifth hell )
to live at the end of beyond
el montón – heap / pile
ser del montón ( to be of the pile )
to be an ordinary person
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Spanish Lessons 
