How do you say “It's all Greek to me” in Spanish?
The closest natural Spanish equivalent is sonarle a chino a alguien, which literally means “to sound like Chinese to someone”. English speakers use it's all greek to me to mean that you do not understand something at all. Spanish uses Chinese in the comparison. “No entiendo nada” avoids naming a language. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural Spanish
sonarle a chino a alguien
/soˈnaɾle a ˈtʃino a ˈalɣjen/
- Literal meaning
- “to sound like Chinese to someone”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
95 out of 100
What a native Spanish speaker would actually say
Spanish often uses “sonar”: something sounds like Chinese to the listener. The phrase works for written instructions too. With a plural subject, say “me suenan a chino.”
“No entiendo nada” is equally natural if you want to avoid the language comparison. Both can introduce a request for a simpler explanation.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity4 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
What are other ways to say it in Spanish?
no entender ni una palabra
Literally: “not to understand a single word”
Plain and emphatic, with no comparison to another language.
no entender nada
Literally: “not to understand anything”
The simplest option, also useful for symbols or calculations.
In context
English
Those instructions are all Greek to me.
Spanish
Esas instrucciones me suenan a chino.
English
It's all Greek to me. Can you explain it more simply?
Spanish
No entiendo nada. ¿Puedes explicarlo de forma más sencilla?
Related expressions
- What “It's all Greek to me” means in English
- Read between the lines, Find hidden meaning in what is said
- Off the top of my head, From memory without checking facts
Last updated 2026-09-16