The rain in Spain…

9 comments

Seem like all the sayings about Spain are coming true… “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain” – well, I’m not sure what’s happening on the coasts, but it’s been pouring here for days (¡Madre mia como cae! says Marina, on an hourly basis…)

A favourite phrase in Madrid at this time of year is “Hasta el 40 de Mayo, no te quites el sayo” – Don’t take your coat off until the the 40th of May, meaning, obviously, that you can’t bet on non-stop good weather until at least June 10th.

And… Frases raras en Español, strange phrases in Spanish, is bizzarely one of the google searches that brings most people to this site every month!

Written by Ben Curtis

May 25th, 2007 at 12:57 pm

Posted in Spanish Culture and News

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9 Responses to “The rain in Spain…”

  1. Mike F

    25 May 07 at 1:36 pm

    The rain and flooding in Madrid seem to have been the major tv news item over the past week. Not much rain here in Barcelona, though – but we had buckets of it (“lloví­a a cántaros”) in April.

  2. ValenciaSon

    25 May 07 at 2:42 pm

    I’ve been watching all that granizo in Spain last week, WOW!

  3. Stuart

    25 May 07 at 4:09 pm

    Things ought to stay a lot greener for a lot longer this summer then.
    There is no rain where I am.

  4. Theresa

    25 May 07 at 5:05 pm

    We’re having a bit of rain on and off over here in Pamplona, and even some hail, but overall the weather hasn’t been bad. They say the storm’s heading this way, though. Oh well, we’re used to it by now.

  5. luke

    26 May 07 at 12:23 pm

    That phrase is nearly the same as the English “Don’t cast a clout till May is out” (clout=cloth or clothes)

  6. Ben

    26 May 07 at 4:11 pm

    Thanks Luke, I never knew that one!

  7. Janelle

    26 May 07 at 7:15 pm

    Could the 40 also mean, 40 degrees, as in: until its 40 degrees in May don’t take off your sayo. Some Spanish people have told me it could mean that too..? Que piensas Marina?

  8. Marina

    27 May 07 at 10:11 am

    Hola Janelle,

    I’ve never heard that interpretation, but with these things you never know for certain. From my point of view the construction of “El cuarenta de mayo” clearly refers to a day. If it was referring to a temperature the construction would be slightly different, for example something like: “Hasta que no haga 40 [grados] en mayo”.

  9. Marie-Claude Lynch

    30 May 07 at 3:11 pm

    Et en France on dit: En avril ne te deshabille pas d’un fil, et en mai fais ce qu’il te plait….et je ne sais, which correspond to the 10th June that Ben mentioned. Today 30 May in England near Oxford, it is raining and 13 degres. Brrrrrr

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