The paw or leg of an animal
Encoding Strategies:
mnemonic
visual
pat
to touch lightly
+
-a
noun suffix
Pata means paw, as in the leg and foot of an animal, and sounds like the English word pat0, since a paw is what an animal pats you with.
pata
paw, leg, foot (animals)
The leg or foot of an animal.
El perro me puso la pata en la rodillaThe dog put its paw on my knee
Las arañas tienen ocho patasSpiders have eight legs
leg (furniture)
The leg of a piece of furniture.
A la mesa le falta una pataThe table is missing a leg
La silla se tambalea porque una pata está sueltaThe chair wobbles because one leg is loose
leg (people, colloquial)
A person's leg, which sounds joking or rude because it treats them like an animal.
¡Quita las patas de la mesa!Get your legs off the table!
Se me durmió la pata de tanto estar sentadoMy leg fell asleep from sitting so long
meter la pata
to put one's foot in it, to mess up
To say or do the wrong thing at the wrong moment. Literally "to put the paw in", as an animal does when it steps into a hunter's trap.
Metí la pata cuando pregunté por su esposaI put my foot in it when I asked about his wife
Perdona, metí la pata delante de tu jefeSorry, I messed up in front of your boss
estirar la pata
to kick the bucket, to croak (dying)
A euphemism for dying. Literally "to stretch out the leg", which is what happens to an animal when the body stiffens after death.
El loro de mi vecina estiró la pata la semana pasadaMy neighbor's parrot kicked the bucket last week
Si sigo comiendo así voy a estirar la pataIf I keep eating like this I'm going to croak
patas arriba
upside down, in a mess
Describes something that has been turned upside down or that's in complete disorder. When something has its legs in the air, it's been turned upside down.
La casa está patas arriba después de la fiestaThe house is upside down after the party
El terremoto dejó la oficina patas arribaThe earthquake left the office in a mess
mala pata
bad luck
When things go wrong through no fault of your own. Literally "bad foot," a reference to a lucky rabbit's foot that was bad and didn't work.
Tengo muy mala pata con los cochesI have really bad luck with cars
Qué mala pata que llegaras justo cuando cerrabanWhat bad luck that you arrived just as they were closing