ES Spanish · informal · 3 of 6
estar en las nubes
gentle, or mildly impatient
Word by word
be · in · the · clouds
Idiomatic sense
To be miles away. The body is in the room, and the attention is not. A teacher says it of a student. A friend says it when a question has to be repeated.
It is not happiness. English on cloud nine is the opposite neighborhood: delight. These clouds are absence.
Examples
Hoy estás en las nubes.
You're miles away today.
Perdona, estaba en las nubes.
Sorry. I was off somewhere else.
Equivalents
Marks say how far the other phrase travels with this one. How to read them.
- near
to have one's head in the clouds
Close, and slightly more a trait of dreaminess than a moment of distraction. The Spanish phrase is often the moment.
- near
être dans la lune
To be in the moon. The same absence of mind, a different sky.
- partial
Missing an object that is present. Estar en las nubes is a drifting mind, which may not be looking at any particular object.
- partial
ぼーっとしている
To be in a vacant daze. Accurate and ordinary, and not a set picture of clouds.
- none
on cloud nine
Happiness. Listed so the clouds are not confused. No equivalent is claimed in that direction.
Notes
The English head-in-the-clouds can suggest an impractical character across a whole life. Estar en las nubes is happier as a description of this afternoon. Both can stretch. The core overlap is inattention.
Sources
- Standard informal idiom. Wording is original.