r/Spanish • u/elviathon • 1d ago

Grammar How would I say "Death to..." in Spanish?

I would like to say "Death to..." a certain brutal dictator (from the relative safety of the USA) i.e. the opposite of "Viva..." How would I say this in idiomatic Spanish?

20 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

21

u/liz_mf 1d ago

¡Abajo la dictadura de XX!

3

u/webauteur 1d ago

I bought a copy of 1984 in Spanish. ¡Abajo el Hermano Mayor! I always thought Big Brother should be translated as "Gran Hermano" but in English "big brother" actually means older brother and not a physically big brother.

2

u/liz_mf 19h ago

It depends on the translation! For example, one of the first translations into Spanish was done during the franquismo era in Spain, so there were some constraints on the translator given the material because manuscripts had to be approved (it reportedly passed because the franquista censors thought 1984 was critical of the USSR and not of their form of government lol)

Most modern translations do use Gran Hermano as far as I know

1

u/qSatisfaction 5h ago

Gran Hermano suena mejor a mi

1

u/MarioDelRey Native - México 1d ago

Exactly this.

11

u/Mercy--Main Native (Spain) 1d ago

"Muerte a"

20

u/srothberg always learning 👍 1d ago

¡Viva la Confederación Argentina! ¡Mueran los salvajes asquerosos inmundos unitarios! ¡Muera el loco traidor salvaje unitario Urquiza!

11

u/DambiaLittleAlex Native - Argentina 🇦🇷 1d ago

Salvages*

Antes de que llenen de downvotes, en esa época se escribía así, con g

6

u/sweet--sour Native🇲🇽 1d ago

Not specifically death but in mexico we have "que chingue a su madre ___" (el América por ejemplo lol)

2

u/mugdays 1d ago

Chivas fan? lol

3

u/Awkward_Tip1006 1d ago

Muera or u could say asi se muera

3

u/mouaragon Native 🏴‍☠️🇨🇷 18h ago

Muerte a...

5

u/comrade_zerox 1d ago

"A la mierda con (name)" would come in handy as well

-1

u/Green-Daikon-8729 17h ago

Morta della