Dicho español · Spanish proverb

«A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda.»

Word for word

God helps the one who rises early.

What it really means

The closest English equivalent: The early bird catches the worm.

Used to praise getting up or starting early — the Spanish way of saying effort put in ahead of everyone else gets rewarded.

Hear it in a sentence

Salí a las seis y encontré las mejores ofertas del mercado: a quien madruga, Dios le ayuda.

I left at six and found the best deals at the market — the early bird catches the worm.

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.

← All 60 Spanish dichos

Get a dicho a day — with news at YOUR level.

Real news rewritten to exactly your Spanish level (A1–C2), one dicho per edition, every morning. Free.

Start today — it's free