Tirarse a la piscina
To jump into the swimming pool.
to take the plunge; **to take the plunge**; **to take a leap**; **to take a risk**; **to take the plunge and go for it**; **to bite the bullet** (in some contexts)
Tirarse a la piscina means to take the plunge, to take a risk, or to commit oneself to something despite uncertainty about the outcome.
Al final me tiré a la piscina y acepté el trabajo.
In the end, I took the plunge and accepted the job.
No sabía si funcionaría, pero decidí tirarme a la piscina.
I didn't know whether it would work, but I decided to take the plunge.
Si quieres montar tu propio negocio, tendrás que tirarte a la piscina.
If you want to start your own business, you'll have to take the plunge.
Nunca se atrevió a declararse, pero esta vez se tiró a la piscina.
He had never dared to tell her how he felt, but this time he took the plunge.
Llevaba meses pensando en comprar una casa y finalmente se tiró a la piscina.
He'd been thinking about buying a house for months and finally took the plunge.
It is used when someone decides to act even though they do not know whether things will work out.
The expression often implies a degree of courage, daring or impulsiveness.
- takes a significant risk
- makes a bold decision
- decides to try something uncertain
- commits to a plan without guarantees
- makes a romantic move
- invests money or resources despite uncertainty
- finally decides to act instead of continuing to hesitate
The expression comes directly from the literal act of jumping into a swimming pool.
Once someone jumps, the decision has been made: they are committed to the action and must accept the consequences of the jump.
This physical image became a metaphor for making a bold decision despite uncertainty.
The metaphor is closely related to the English expression to take the plunge, which uses essentially the same image.
Tirarse a la piscina normally suggests that the outcome is uncertain.
Compare:
Decidí hacerlo.
→ I decided to do it.
with:
Me tiré a la piscina.
→ I took the plunge / I took a risk and went for it.
The second suggests that the person didn't have complete guarantees and nevertheless decided to act.
It can be used for both serious and trivial decisions:
Me tiré a la piscina y le pedí una cita.
→ I took the plunge and asked her out.
Spanish has several expressions based on throwing or jumping oneself into something to express taking a risk:
- Tirarse a la piscina → take the plunge.
- Echarse al ruedo → take the bull by the horns / face a challenge.
- Tirarse a la aventura → embark on something without knowing exactly what will happen.
- Lanzarse a algo → throw oneself into something / take the plunge.
The swimming-pool metaphor is particularly effective because once you jump, there is no going back: you have committed yourself to the decision.
Do not translate:
Me tiré a la piscina.
as:
I threw myself into the swimming pool.
unless the person literally jumped into a pool.
In its figurative sense, natural translations include:
I took the plunge.
I took the risk.
I went for it.
There are five hundred more.
The complete collection — no ads, on paper or Kindle.
Get the book on Amazon