20 Funny Spanish phrases that native speakers use in their daily conversations

This article is a collection of 20 funny Spanish phrases that native speakers use all the time in their daily conversations.*

Have you found yourself struggling to understand native speakers while you see them laughing among themselves?

Well, the good news is that they were probably not laughing at you. In fact, it is very likely that they were just having fun with the expressions they used in the conversation.

Wouldn’t you like to understand what they mean and laugh with them instead of confusingly standing there with that poker face?

20 Funny Spanish phrases that native speakers use in their daily conversations

Here’s a list of funny Spanish Phrases. Of course, these are not always funny, I just listed some of the phrases, sentences, slang, or idioms that in my opinion are comical.

Note:Some of these expressions are only used in Colombia.

1- Creerse la última coca-cola del desierto

Imagine you’re in the Sahara desert, there’s no water and you are about to die under the sun, and then, all of a sudden you see a cold and refreshing coca-cola.

I’m pretty sure that at that moment, you’d think about that drink as the most important thing in the world.

Well, in Spanish, when someone thinks of himself as a very important person, or if he just believes that he is too beautiful, we say that he thinks he is “the last coca cola in the desert”, for example:

• Desde que Carlos compró ese auto nuevo, se cree la última coca-cola del desierto.
• Ana se cree la última coca-cola del desierto con esos tenis nuevos .

2- Hablando del rey de roma

In my opinion, this is one of those funny Spanish phrases that may sound strange. We say this when we are talking about a person, and he shows up at that exact moment.

You can use it, just as you use “talk of the devil” in English, for example:

Diego dijo que llegaba en quince minutos (Diego shows up at the exact moment you’re saying this and then you go…) hablando del rey de roma, ¡ahí viene!

3- ¡Qué pedo!

This one is very popular in Mexico, and it’s used to express something like “what’s up?”.

Also, the word “pedo”, literally means fart, but when used as slang, it means “problem”, for instance:

─¿Cuál es tu pedo?─ ─Tranquilo, no hay pedo, no pasa nada ─

Or, here’s an example when using “¿Qué pedo?” as “what’s up?”

─ Hola Mario─ ─¿Qué pedo? ¿Cómo vas?─

4- El que nada debe nada teme

You can use this sentence when someone threatens you for something that has nothing to do with you. For example:

─ Voy a llamar la policía si no me devuelves mi dinero ─ ─ El que nada debe nada teme. Ese dinero es mío así que llame a quien quiera─

5- Meter la pata

This phrase literally means to put your leg into something, but it is never understood word for word. We understand this just as you express “to screw up” in English, for example:

• Creo que metí la pata cuando le mentí a mi mamá.
• Metiste la pata por traer a tu perro a casa de Marina, ¡ella odia los perros!

6- Estar feliz como una lombriz

Don’t let this one confuse you. It doesn’t have anything to do with worms (Lombriz).

Spanish speakers use this sentence to express that they feel really happy, and they say “lombirz”, just because it rhymes with “feliz”, for example:

• Estoy feliz como una lombriz de verte hoy.
• Humberto está feliz como una lombriz porque se va para San Andrés.

7- Tirar la casa por la ventana

Do you love to party? Then this is one of those funny Spanish phrases that you should include in your vocabulary!

You may use this expression when you throw a party, and you spend a huge amount of money on it.

It has the idea that you would pay any price, you’d even throw your house (an expensive good) through a window if necessary just to make that party.

Note that this phrase is used exclusively when talking about making a celebration, for example:

• El día que yo me case, voy a tirar la casa por la ventana.
• Gabriel va a tirar la casa por la ventana porque su hija se graduó como ingeniera.

8- Ponerse las pilas

If you are not focused, Spanish speakers would tell you: “¡Pongase las pilas!”, which means something like: “Focus, get serious about what you’re doing and finish that!”.

You may think of this as if you were a machine that needs a battery to finally get focused and work, for example:

• Termina tu tarea, ¡ponte las pilas de una vez por todas!
• Póngase las pilas o su novia se va a ir con otro.

9- A palabras necias, oídos sordos

This is one of the most useful funny Spanish phrases. You may use it when someone tells you something that you just want to ignore. You want to pretend that you are not listening, for example:

─ Maria dijo que eras feo y tonto─ ─A palabras necias, oídos sordos─

10- Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por sabio

Literally, this one means that the devil is wiser because he is old than just because he is the devil. Native speakers use this sentence when someone with a lot of experience (in any area of life) does something good that could only be done by experience.

For example, imagine you take a taxi to go to the mall. You tell the driver to take a specific route, but he suggests that you’ll get faster to your destination if you take another way. The driver could say something like:

Confíe en mí, más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo.

11- Hablar caspa o ser un casposo

Yup, caspa means dandruff, but this expression has nothing to do with disgusting things coming from your head.

“Hablar caspa”, or “ser un casposo” is an expression used mostly in Medellín, Colombia. It refers when a person talks too much.

It is usually used when talking about someone who tells lies just to make fun of people or with no reason, for example:

No escuches a Andrés, él habla mucha caspa.

Here’s another example:

─¿Quién te dijo que yo no desayuné?─ ─ Fernando─ ─No lo escuches, él es un casposo ─

12- Lo que soy yo, me pinto de colores

To be honest, I’ve only heard this expression in Colombia, and it means something like: “I’m leaving”, or “well, I have to go now!”, for example:

• Quisiera quedarme a comer, pero lo que soy yo, me pinto de colores.
• Dentro de cinco minutos, lo que soy yo, me pinto de colores.

Something interesting is that native speakers never use this expression in second or third person, so we never say: “Él se pinta de colores”, “ellos se pintan de colores”… it’s always “me pinto de colores”.

13- Estar pelado

When you have no money, this is one of the most useful funny Spanish phrases. It means that there’s not even a single coin in your pocket, for example:

─ Oye Juan, ¿vamos al cine en la noche?─ ─ No puedo, estoy pelado ─

14- Estar tragado de una persona

This is one of those funny Spanish phrases to talk about love.

In Colombia, we use this expression to indicate that you are deeply in love with someone. It can be with your couple, or it could just be with someone who you wish to date, for example:

• Sofía, tengo que confesarte que estoy tragado de tu prima.
• Solo estoy tragado de mi esposa, no me interesa nadie más.

15- Tener una traga maluca

Well, you can see that this phrase is very similar to the former one. However, when you have a “traga maluca”, it means that you are deeply in love with someone, but that person doesn’t know about it, and if he or she knows, he/she doesn’t like you back, for instance:

Estoy cansado de esta traga maluca que tengo con mi jefe.

16- Estar entusado

This is also Colombian Slang for talking about love, but this expression doesn’t make you feel very nice so to speak.

“Estar entusado”, means that you are in love with somebody who doesn’t like you, or someone who doesn’t love you back. You may also use this expression when your significant other breaks up with you, for example:

• Jason no quiere salir de casa, sigue entusado desde que su novia lo dejó.
• María está entusada porque juan no la quiere.

17- Estar vivito y coleando

Whenever there’s an accident, a difficult test, or any kind of trial in life we use the expression “estar vivito y coleando” after passing that difficult time, for example:

• Manuel estuvo a punto de morir en un accidente de tráfico, pero está vivito y coleando.
• El doctor le diagnosticó a Cristina dos meses de vida, pero ya han pasado 5 años y ella está vivita y coleando.

18- Cría fama y échate a dormir

Spanish speakers use this expression when talking about people’s reputation. It means that once you create a reputation for yourself, it will take a long time to change.

It’s pretty similar to when, in English, we say: “Win a good reputation and sleep at your ease”, for example:

─ Acepto que yo bebía mucho en el pasado, pero ya cambié─ ─Cría fama y hechate a dormir ─

19- Ser uña y mugre

When I said funny Spanish phrases, I never meant disgusting, but this expression is not really clean so to speak.

Word by word, this idiom means to be a nail and dirtiness. This is how we call two people who are all the time together. They go everywhere together, and talk all the time, for example:

• En la escuela, mi mejor amiga y yo éramos uña y mugre.
• Mi hermano y yo somos uña y mugre, él sabe todo acerca de mí.

20- Sacar los trapitos al sol

This expression gives you the idea of hanging your clothes under the sun after doing your laundry.

In Spanish, we use this expression when two people are arguing, and telling each other every bad feeling they’ve felt about the other one, mostly, things they tried to hide in the past, for example:

Andrés y Carolina se sacaron los trapitos al sol la última vez que discutieron.

There you go…

Those were 20 funny Spanish phrases that native speakers use all the time in their daily and spontaneous conversations.

Do you know other funny sentence or phrase in Spanish? Write it down in the comments below!

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