Lingua Flowing
Spanish idioms

What does “Cantar las cuarenta” mean?

SpanishColors and numbersInformal

Cantar las cuarenta

Word for word

To sing the forty

What it really means

To give someone a stern telling-off, saying every home truth at once. The one doing the singing is the one who had been holding the complaint in.

How we say it in English

To read someone the riot act

Want to see this idiom used in a sentence, and where it comes from?

Create a free account to see “Cantar las cuarenta” in a real sentence (with audio), where it comes from, and to share the card. No card required.

Create a free account