Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«Se pilla antes a un mentiroso que a un cojo.»
Word for word
One catches a liar before a lame man.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: You'll catch a liar before you catch a lame man.
A common variant of the previous saying, widely used across Latin America and Spain. It warns that lies are quickly exposed.
Hear it in a sentence
Se pilla antes a un mentiroso que a un cojo, así que tarde o temprano sabremos la verdad.
You'll catch a liar before you catch a lame man, so sooner or later we'll know the truth.
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.