How do you say “Beat around the bush” in Spanish?
The closest natural Spanish equivalent is Andarse con rodeos, which literally means “To go about with detours”. English speakers use beat around the bush to mean to avoid saying something directly. A familiar way to describe indirect or evasive speech, often in the request no te andes con rodeos. Register: neutral, informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural Spanish
Andarse con rodeos
/anˈdaɾse kon roˈdeos/
- Literal meaning
- “To go about with detours”
- Register
- neutral, informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
96 out of 100
What a native Spanish speaker would actually say
Both images avoid a direct route. Spanish takes detours, while English stays around a bush.
Both can sound impatient as commands. “Andarse con rodeos” keeps the evasiveness more clearly than “irse por las ramas”, which may describe innocent rambling.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity2 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
What are other ways to say it in Spanish?
Irse por las ramas
Literally: “To go away along the branches”
Can mean wandering off the point, even without deliberate evasion.
No ir al grano
Literally: “Not to go to the grain”
Emphasises failing to reach the main point.
Common translation traps
Golpear alrededor del arbusto
The literal hunting image does not convey evasive speech in Spanish.
The notes above explain why these versions do not work in this context in Spanish.
In context
English
Stop beating around the bush and tell me what happened.
Spanish
No te andes con rodeos y dime qué pasó.
English
She did not beat around the bush when she asked for a raise.
Spanish
No se anduvo con rodeos cuando pidió un aumento.
Related expressions
- What “Beat around the bush” means in English
- The elephant in the room, An obvious issue nobody mentions.
- Sit on the fence, To stay deliberately neutral.
Last updated 2026-09-13