1

In Spanish we have the following expression:

Tienes todas las papeletas para conseguirlo.

This can be translated as:

You have all the [lottery] tickets to get it.
You have all the ballots to get it.

This just means that if a person is pursuing a goal, whatever it is, it's almost certain that the person will achieve what they aim, by comparing the goal with the prize of a lottery or a voting. In Spanish it's a casual sentence with colloquial usage.

Would that sentence be understood in English if used literally translated? Or does English have a more idiomatic sentence with the same meaning and similar nuances?

Improve this question
3
  • It's not idiomatic in English; I can't think of an exact equivalent beyond "you have everything you need".
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 12, 2022 at 11:38
  • @StuartF I came up with "You have all the odds in your favor" just after posting the question, but I don't know if that may sound outdated today or if it's something commonly used.
    – Charlie
    Commented Jul 12, 2022 at 11:44
  • 1
    The more idiomatic way to phrase that is "The odds are (heavily) in your favor", but it doesn't mean quite the same thing that the original sentence does, I think. Maybe it's yours for the taking?
    – stangdon
    Commented Jul 12, 2022 at 11:58

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

The Idiomatic way in English might likely be :

"tick all the boxes"
"tick all the right boxes"

Meaning:

to fulfill all the requirements, especially as itemized in a list;
to have all the needed characteristics

Eg:

We were very happy with your performance in your interview last week. You tick all the boxes for us, and we'd like to offer you the job.

Compare with your Example, which we might translate like this:

You have all the "boxes ticked" to get it.

Reference:
https://englishlogica.com/spoken-vocab/tick-all-the-boxes-idiom-meaning-examples-k3r93h6kaws
https://www.wordsense.eu/tick_all_the_boxes/

Improve this answer
2
  • I feel like "tick all the boxes" may have a slightly different meaning than the OP's phrase, though. "tick all the boxes" is like "have all of the necessary qualifications" or "have fulfilled all of the prerequisites", whereas the original just seems to be a more general "is a sure thing".
    – stangdon
    Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 12:02
  • There may be no Exact Match , but "You have all the ballots/tickets to get it" means "having all the qualifications/requirements to get it" which then becomes "having all the boxes ticked to get it" which eventually becomes "ticking all the boxes" , which looks like the Best Match !
    – Prem
    Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 14:25

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .