No tiene padre, ni madre, ni perrito que le ladre

The Spanish word padre, ‘father’, occurs as frequently as its female counterpart, especially in idiomatic expressions. Paul Whitelock highlights some of them…

Padre

Los padres are ‘parents’ or ‘mother and father’, whereas ‘stepfather is el padrastro and ‘father-in-law’ is el suegro. El Padre Nuestro is the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ (‘Our Father’), ‘Father Christmas’ is Papá Noel and ‘Old Father Time’ is El Tiempo. Your ‘fatherland’ or ‘home country’ is la patria.

Cute idioms containing the word padre include ¡Mi padre! (‘You don’t say!’) and ¡Eres mi padre! (‘You’re a marvel!’). En menos que se reza un padrenuestro means ‘In no time at all’. Whereas ¡Tu padre! means ‘Up yours!’

Used adjectivally, se armó un lío padre is the equivalent of ‘there was an almighty row’ and Paco se da una vida padre means ‘Paco lives the life of Riley’.

Madre

La madre is used a lot for exclamations or insults. For example both ¡Madre mía! and ¡Madre de dios! mean ‘Good heavens!’ ¡Tu madre! means ‘Up yours!’ or ‘Get stuffed!’ Me cago en la madre que te parió is even stronger and is a way of saying ‘F*ck off!’

(Editor’s note: For other swear words used in Spanish click here.)

La madre patria is ‘the mother country’, la lengua madre is your ‘mother tongue’ and la alcantarilla madre is ‘the main sewer’!

Idiomatic expressions include Como su madre le echó al mundo (‘in his birthday suit’ or ‘starkers’ and Ahí está la madre del cordero means ‘that’s just the trouble’ or ‘that’s the crux of the matter’. Sacar de madre a alguien is ‘to upset somebody’.

And the title of this piece? No tiene padre, ni madre, ni perrito que le ladre means ‘He’s all alone in the world.’