by Admin September 17, 2025, 12:44 pmupdated September 17, 2025, 1:54 pm inSpanish

White and Black, Blanco y Negro

Classic Reversed Expressions in Spanish and English — Updated

A child watching black and white cartoons.

Televisión Blanco y Negro

Back in 2006, spanishNY.com published a small post about an interesting language phenomenon:
Spanish and English often use the same pair of words — but in reverse order.

Now, almost 20 years later, here’s a remake. Some of these pairs are so common we barely notice them anymore. Others are fun little surprises. Either way, they can help Spanish learners (and English learners!) see how both languages build meaning differently.

Here’s a long, updated list of these “mirror” expressions:

Spanish Expression	Literal Translation	Natural English Expression	Reversed?
tarde o temprano	later or sooner	sooner or later	✅
sano y salvo	healthy and safe	safe and sound	✅
tenedor y cuchillo	fork and knife	knife and fork	✅
vivo o muerto	alive or dead	dead or alive	✅
de pies a cabeza	from feet to head	from head to toe	✅
ir y venir	go and come	come and go	✅
toga y birrete	gown and cap	cap and gown	✅
arroz con pollo	rice with chicken	chicken with rice	✅
agua y aceite	water and oil	oil and water	✅
blanco y negro	white and black	black and white	✅
perros y gatos	dogs and cats	cats and dogs	✅
agridulce	sour and sweet	sweet-and-sour	✅
aquí y allá	here and there	here and there	❌
ahora o nunca	now or never	now or never	❌
ida y vuelta	go and return	round trip	❌
dar y recibir	give and receive	give and take	❌
antes y después	before and after	before and after	❌
carne y hueso	flesh and bone	flesh and blood	❌
pan y mantequilla	bread and butter	bread and butter	❌
pros y contras	pros and cons	pros and cons	❌

✅ = reversed order between Spanish and English.

Notice how in many cases, English reverses the order. This is not just wordplay — it reflects how each language has developed its own patterns.

These are not “translation rules” — you can’t reverse every pair. But learning these classic ones will help you sound more natural and avoid word-by-word translations.

This post is a remake of a classic 2006 spanishNY.com article, updated for today’s Spanish students.