How do you say “Right under your nose” in Spanish?
The closest natural Spanish equivalent is Delante de tus narices, which literally means “In front of your noses”. English speakers use right under your nose to mean something is directly in front of you or happening in plain sight, but you fail to notice it. A familiar informal expression for something very close or obvious that goes unnoticed. Spanish uses the plural “narices” in this phrase. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural Spanish
Delante de tus narices
/deˈlante de tus naˈɾises/
- Literal meaning
- “In front of your noses”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
96 out of 100
What a native Spanish speaker would actually say
Both expressions put the unnoticed thing very close to the face. Spanish places it in front of the nose rather than underneath.
The plural “narices” adds a casual, sometimes impatient tone. It can make a missed object funny, or make an accusation sharper.
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?
En tus propias narices
Literally: “In your own noses”
Emphasises something happening openly in front of you.
A la vista
Literally: “In sight”
Neutral wording; add context to show it was missed.
Common translation traps
Debajo de tu nariz
This usually gives a physical location; delante de tus narices better conveys the missed obvious thing.
The notes above explain why these versions do not work in this context in Spanish.
In context
English
The keys were right under my nose the whole time.
Spanish
Las llaves estaban delante de mis narices todo el tiempo.
English
They were cheating right under his nose.
Spanish
Estaban haciendo trampas delante de sus narices.
Related expressions
Last updated 2026-09-13