poner los ojos en blanco
/poneɾ los oxos en blanko/from spelling rules
The English phrase 'eye roll' is translated into Spanish as poner los ojos en blanco.
This phrase is used to describe the physical action of rolling one's eyes to express annoyance, disbelief or exasperation.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to 'to put the eyes in white'.
How does it change in a sentence?
The verb poner can be conjugated to change the tense. For example, to say someone rolled their eyes in the past, you would use puso los ojos en blanco.
Did you know?
- Spanish uses the same word blanco for 'white' and for the 'bullseye' or target center in sports like archery and darts.
- In some Spanish-speaking cultures, an eye roll paired with a clicking sound of the tongue is a common non-verbal way to express strong disagreement.
- While poner los ojos en blanco is used for annoyance, the phrase quedarse en blanco means to suddenly forget everything or have your mind go blank.
Examples in context
- Juan se puso los ojos en blanco cuando su hermano le hizo otra broma.Juan rolled his eyes when his brother made another joke.
- No puedo evitar poner los ojos en blanco cuando él habla.I can't help but roll my eyes when he speaks.
- Ella suele poner los ojos en blanco con sus bromas.She tends to roll her eyes at his jokes.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
