Hacer novillos

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/a·ˈθeɾ no·ˈβi·ʝos/

To make young bulls.

Frequency

ConversationCommon

JournalismCommon

LiteraryOccasional

AcademicRare

In English

to play truant; **to play truant** (British English); **to skip school**; **to cut class** (American English); **to ditch school** (informal American English)

Meaning

Hacer novillos means to play truant, to skip school, to cut class or, more generally, to deliberately avoid going somewhere one is expected to be.

Examples

Hoy han hecho novillos.

They skipped school today.

De pequeño hice novillos alguna vez.

I played truant a few times when I was a child.

Los pillaron haciendo novillos.

They were caught playing truant.

En vez de ir a clase, hicieron novillos.

Instead of going to class, they skipped school.

Although traditionally associated with school, it can occasionally be used for work or other obligations.

Used when

skips school without permission
misses classes intentionally
avoids an obligation
disappears instead of attending where they should be

Origin

Like so much idiomatic language, it distils an everyday observation into a memorable phrase.

Several theories exist, but none has been definitively proven.

One explanation suggests that students who skipped school wandered around fields where young bulls (novillos) grazed, giving rise to the expression.

Another theory links it to older regional uses of novillo associated with wandering or idleness.

Whatever its precise origin, hacer novillos has been used for centuries to mean deliberately missing school.

Cultural note

This expression is especially common in Spain.

In many parts of Latin America, speakers are more likely to use local alternatives such as:

hacer la pinta
hacer la cimarra
hacer la vaca
volarse la clase

depending on the country.

Spanish learners should recognise hacer novillos as the standard Peninsular Spanish expression.

Did you know?

Spain has several regional expressions for playing truant:

Hacer novillos → the most widespread expression.
Hacer pellas → very common in Madrid and other regions.
Hacer puente → not the same thing; it means taking an extra holiday between a public holiday and the weekend.

Among them, hacer novillos is the expression most widely understood throughout Spain and appears frequently in literature, films and everyday conversation.

For English speakers

Do not translate the expression literally.

English speakers would never say:

They made young bulls.

Instead, use:

to play truant (UK)
to skip school
to cut class (US)
to ditch school (informal US)

Choose the translation according to the variety of English.