Dicho español · Spanish proverb

«A trabajar, que la vida es corta.»

Word for word

To work, that life is short.

What it really means

The closest English equivalent: Get to work, life is short.

Used humorously or encouragingly to push someone to stop procrastinating and get busy with their tasks.

Hear it in a sentence

Ya basta de descanso, a trabajar, que la vida es corta.

Enough resting, get to work, life is short.

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.

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