Most of these are collected from my father. He says Puerto Rican sayings change often, and he'd be lost there now, but these are some of the ones he knows.
Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo
lit: The devil is wise more from being old than from being the devil
Cortado con las mismas tijeras
lit: Cut from the same scissors
english equivilant: Cut from the same cloth
En su casa se conoce
lit: They're known in their own home
meaning: I don't know who they are, but I'm sure their mom does!
Zapatero a sus zapato
lit: Cobbler to his shoe
meaning: If you're a cobbler, deal with shoes. Focus on what you're good at.
La ley de dios no tiene trampa
lit: the law of God has no way to cheat it
Damelo en arroz y habichuelas
lit: give it to me in rice and beans
meaning: tell it to me simpler
En carne viva
lit: in living meat
meaning: When you get a scrape/burn and lose the top layer of skin. Also used poetically for emotional pain
Te metieron las cabras/Te metieron las cabras al corral
lit: They put your goats/They put your goats in their pen
meaning: They took you for a fool. The same meaning as "te cojieron por pendejo". The version with "al corral" is rarely said.
Te vieron la cara
lit: They saw your face
meaning: they took advantage of you. Implied that they saw your face of an idiot. "Te vieron la cara de pendejo".
No es la fletcha, es el indio
lit: it's not the arrow, it's the Indian
meaning: You're unskilled at something, don't blame the equipment. Like if someone were trying to learn to sew and was saying "It's just this damn sewing machine doesn't work right!"
This is also a phrase used in english, said as "it's the Indian, not the arrow"
Estas buscando lo que no se te a perdido
lit: You're looking for something you haven't lost
meaning: You're looking for trouble(/a spanking)
Al garete
lit:
meaning: something's crazy/a mess/very disorganized. Very versatile.
A lo loco
lit: hard to translate literally like this.
meaning: You're doing something crazily, synonymous with al garete, but I hear al garete used more.
Aguacero
lit:
meaning: a downpour. Really really strong rain. Very common word I use all the time that I'm sad doesn't have a nice english equivalent. The closest is raining cats and dogs in my opinion, for that type of rain.
Como cucaracha en baile de gallinas
lit: Like a cockroach in a chicken party
meaning: someone very out of place.
No te vistas, que no vas
lit: Don't get dressed, you're not going.
meaning: Implies "not invited", even though it literally says "not going." Basically means "don't get any ideas." Like you pull out food you aren't planning to share and everyone looks at you.
No inventes
lit: Don't invent
meaning: Dont get any ideas.
Está más emperifollá qué la puerca de Juan Bobo
lit: You're more dolled up than Juan Bobo's pig
meaning: Juan Bobo is a folk character who was incredibly stupid and got into many hijinks. He also had a pet pig. This saying is sometimes insulting, sometimes not
Eso era cuando los perros se amarraban con longaniza
lit: That was when they tied up dogs with sausages
meaning: Something that happened a long time ago. Implied also a long time ago when things where very good, and they could afford to use sausage links to tie up dogs.
Eso no es cascara de coco
lit: That's not coconut shell
meaning: That's not easy. Strangely has nothing to with the shell of a coconut being hard. It's about coconuts being very common, and coconut shells being very easy to get. It means more that's not easy to get.
Eso es bizcocho de titi
lit: That's aunt's cake
meaning: That's a piece of cake, that's easy
Eso no es mear y sacudir
lit: That's not to piss and shake
meaning: That's not easy. Very vulgar.
Uva, uvita
lit: grape
meaning: Something that's very good