cállate la boca
/kaʝate la boka/from spelling rules
The English phrase "shut your big mouth" can be translated into Spanish as cállate la boca.
cállate la boca is a rude way to tell someone to stop talking.
Which one should you use?
An idiomatic alternative you may encounter is cierra el pico, which literally means "shut your beak".
Did you know?
- While cállate la boca is rude, adding the word por favor does not make it polite. Because the command is so aggressive, adding 'please' often sounds sarcastic or mocking to a native speaker.
- The Spanish word boca is likely a distant relative of the English word 'beak'. Both are thought to have descended from the Latin bucca, which originally referred to a person's cheek.
- In many Spanish-speaking cultures, telling someone to cerrar el pico is seen as a more colorful, slightly less aggressive way to tell a person to stop talking compared to the harsher cállate.
Examples in context
- ¡Cállate la boca, que no te he preguntado nada!Shut your mouth, I didn't ask you anything!
- Ya, cállate la boca de una vez.Just shut your mouth once and for all.
Example conversation
Daniel and Elena are having a heated argument.
- DanielNo puedo creer que digas eso.I can't believe you're saying that.
- Elena¡Cállate la boca, Daniel!Shut your mouth, Daniel!
- DanielSolo estoy diciendo la verdad.I'm just telling the truth.
- ElenaNo me importa, guarda silencio.I don't care, be quiet.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries boca, la, CC BY-SA 4.0.
