venir mal dadas
Meaning: For things to go wrong or turn out badly.
Language: Spanish
Literally: to come badly given
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The phrase pictures events or circumstances as 'given' or dealt out poorly, as if by fate or chance, like a bad hand of cards.
More idioms — Daily Life
- hacer antesala — To wait in an outer room or lobby, often in a position of subordination or anticipation.
- lío de faldas — A romantic or sexual entanglement with a woman; an affair.
- sacar el ascua con mano ajena — To get someone else to do one's dirty work or take the blame for one's own wrongdoing.
- contante y sonante — Money in ready cash; actual payment rather than promises or credit.
- de Pascuas a Ramos — Once in a blue moon; extremely rarely or at great intervals.
- Dampf ablassen — To release pent-up emotion or frustration.
More Spanish idioms
- estar entre dos aguas — To be undecided or unable to choose between two options; to sit on the fence.
- arrimar el ascua a su sardina — To arrange matters selfishly in one's own favor; to look out for oneself at others' expen…
- lobo con piel de cordero — A person who appears harmless or trustworthy but is actually dangerous or deceitful.
- dar coces contra el aguijón — To resist or rebel futilely against something stronger or inevitable.
- no ganar para sustos — To be plagued by constant troubles and misfortunes; to suffer setback after setback.
- perder la chaveta — To go crazy; to lose one's grip on sanity or self-control.
From our untranslatable words
- Puente — The day taken off to 'bridge' a midweek public holiday to the weekend, turning it into a…
- Vergüenza ajena — The squirming embarrassment felt on behalf of another person, who may be entirely untroub…
- Sobremesa — The unhurried conversation that lingers long after a meal, when no one wants to leave the…