meter la pata

Spanish

Verb

meter la pata (first-person singular present meto la pata, first-person singular preterite metí la pata, past participle metido la pata)

1. (idiomatic, colloquial) to mess up; slip up; screw up, to put one's foot in one's mouth

   Synonym: equivocarse

   No quería meter la pata, pero terminé olvidándome de su cumpleaños.

   I didn't want to screw up, but I ended up forgetting about his birthday.

   Metí la pata en la reunion al decir algo inapropiado y todos se quedaron en silencio.

   I messed up in the meeting by saying something inappropriate and everyone went silent.

   Siempre mete la pata cuando intenta hacer bromas; nadie las entiende.

   He always makes mistakes when he tries to make jokes; nobody understands them.

Derived terms

• metedura de pata
• metepatas

Further reading

• “meter alguien la pata”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10