Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«El que de ajena se viste, en la calle se queda en cueros.»
Word for word
He who dresses in another's clothes ends up naked in the street.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: Borrowed feathers don't make the bird.
Used to warn against taking credit for others' achievements or relying on borrowed things. It means that what isn't truly yours won't last.
Hear it in a sentence
El que de ajena se viste, en la calle se queda en cueros; no presumas de logros que no son tuyos.
He who dresses in another's clothes ends up naked in the street; don't brag about achievements that aren't yours.
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.