📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 7 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 2 · Las expresiones fijas
Los animales
Module 14 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 7 of 30: Animals carry another whole set. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
buscarle tres pies al gato
to overcomplicate things
boos-KAR-leh trehs pyehs ahl GAH-toh
llevarse como perro y gato
to fight like cat and dog
yeh-BAR-seh KOH-moh PEH-rroh ee GAH-toh
ser un gallina
to be a coward
sehr oon gah-YEE-nah
estar como una cabra
to be crazy (Spain)
ehs-TAR KOH-moh OO-nah KAH-brah
sin relación
unrelated
seen rreh-lah-SYOHN
el sentido figurado
the figurative meaning
ehl sehn-TEE-doh fee-goo-RAH-doh
dos veces
twice
dohs BEH-sehs
no acertar
to fail to guess
noh ah-sehr-TAR
la cabra
the goat
lah KAH-brah
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Animals carry another whole set. Buscarle tres pies al gato (to overcomplicate things), llevarse como perro y gato (to fight like cat and dog), ser un gallina (to be a coward), estar como una cabra (to be crazy, in Spain).
Y también · And also
Notice that the cat appears twice with two unrelated meanings. That is normal in fixed expressions, and it is why guessing from the noun fails.
Ojo · Watch out
buscarle tres pies al gato says nothing about cats: it means to overcomplicate. And ser un gallina keeps un with a feminine noun — the idiom, not the grammar, decides, and it is not a compliment.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with buscarle tres pies al gato.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 7 in Module 14 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.