Idiomatic sentences Spanish-English. Charlie, your teacher of English # 1
Necesitar un poco de tiempo libre: to need some time off (I need some time off to run
important errands)
Hacer (unos) encargos: run an errand, do an errand; go on an errand (The next day Sam
ran an errand for Zeke. They told her that unless she did 'an errand' for them, they would
arrest her for theft. I went on an errand for my mother.)
Acobardarse/rajarse: to chicken out (to manage to get out of something, usually because
of fear or cowardice. Come on! Don't chicken out now! Freddy chickened out of the plan
at the last minute.)
Caer enfermo de/enfermar de: to come down with (to become or be sick with some
illness. Susan came down with a bad cold and had to cancel her trip. I didn't go to work
because I came down with the flu.)
Quitar un peso de encima: to take a load off (of) one's mind (to relieve one's mind of a
problem or a worry <> "of" is usually retained before pronouns: I'm glad to hear that. It
sure takes a load off of my mind. This will take a load off her mind.)
Hacer un llamamiento a: to make an appeal to (The police made an appeal to the public
to remain calm)
Volver atrás en la historia: to go back in history (If we go back in history to the time of
Hitler, we can discover a time when I think it could be said accurately that Hitler was no
Hitler.)
Aprovechar la oportunidad para: to seize the occasion to (A number of authors seized
the occasion to provide a review of work in a particular area)
Hacerse pasar por: pass yourself off as somebody (to pretend that you are someone else:
Maurice is trying to pass himself off as a journalist to get admitted to the press
conference.)
Hacer pasar una cosa por otra: pass something off as something, pass off something as
something (to pretend that something is different from what it really is: Mother would
never try to pass off supermarket cookies as homemade, would she?)
Hacer pasar pasar vergüena, avergonzar: to embarrass sb (to make someone feel bad or
ashamed about someone or something: Please don't embarrass me by mentioning my
mistake again. There is no need to embarrass her about her unfortunate sister.)

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