Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«No hay que tentar al diablo.»
¿Cómo se dice «No hay que tentar al diablo» en inglés? Don't tempt fate.
Word for word
One must not tempt the devil.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: Don't tempt fate.
Said when someone is taking unnecessary risks or pushing their luck. It warns against provoking bad outcomes.
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Hear it in a sentence
No hay que tentar al diablo, mejor no manejes tan rápido en la lluvia.
Don't tempt fate, better not drive so fast in the rain.
More Spanish sayings
- Tanto va el cántaro a la fuente, que al final se rompe. — The pitcher goes to the well so often that it breaks at last.
- La codicia rompe el saco. — Greed overreaches and loses everything.
- Cada quien cosecha lo que siembra. — You reap what you sow.
- Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer. — Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
- El que mucho abarca, poco aprieta. — Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
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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.