Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«Se dice el pecado, pero no el pecador.»
Word for word
The sin is told, but not the sinner.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: Name the sin, not the sinner.
Used to gossip about an action without revealing who did it, preserving the person's anonymity. Common in informal conversation across the Spanish-speaking world.
Hear it in a sentence
En esta oficina se dice el pecado, pero no el pecador.
In this office, the sin is named but not the sinner.
More Spanish sayings
- Al pan, pan y al vino, vino. — Call a spade a spade.
- Quien tiene boca se equivoca. — To err is human.
- El que siembra vientos, recoge tempestades. — Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
- La verdad no peca, pero incomoda. — The truth doesn't sin, but it makes people uncomfortable.
- No es tan fiero el león como lo pintan. — The devil is not as black as he is painted.
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.