Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«El que juega con fuego, se quema.»
¿Cómo se dice «El que juega con fuego, se quema» en inglés? If you play with fire, you'll get burned.
Word for word
He who plays with fire, burns himself.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: If you play with fire, you'll get burned.
Warns someone that flirting with danger or risky behavior will eventually have consequences. Used both literally and metaphorically.
Learning Spanish? Get one saying like this every morning, next to real news written at your level.
Hear it in a sentence
El que juega con fuego, se quema, y tú estás coqueteando con problemas.
If you play with fire, you'll get burned, and you're flirting with trouble.
More Spanish sayings
- El que la hace, la paga. — You reap what you sow.
- Cuando el río suena, agua lleva. — Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
- Después de la tormenta, viene la calma. — After the storm comes the calm.
- Antes se coge al mentiroso que al cojo. — A liar is caught sooner than a lame man.
- Quien con niños se acuesta, mojado amanece. — Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
Test your Spanish
- Free Spanish level test — find your CEFR level in about two minutes
- Subjunctive quiz — with an explanation for every answer
- Learn Spanish by reading the news — guide
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 level.