Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«A la vaca flaca, todo se le vuelven moscas.»
Word for word
To the skinny cow, everything turns into flies.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: The poor get poorer.
Used to say that problems accumulate for those who are already struggling. Common in conversations about bad luck and poverty.
Hear it in a sentence
A la vaca flaca, todo se le vuelven moscas; se le rompió el carro y luego perdió el trabajo.
The poor get poorer; his car broke down and then he lost his job.
Why learn dichos?
Proverbs like this one are everywhere in spoken Spanish — dropped mid-conversation, usually just the first half, with the rest left for you to complete. Recognizing them is one of the fastest ways to sound less like a textbook and follow real speech. Every Lingocito edition signs off with the dicho del día, so you meet one a day next to news written at your exact level.