English
Etymology
In use since the 1930s. Popularized by the American economist Milton Friedman through the title of a 1975 book, and frequently misattributed to him.
Phrase
there's no such thing as a free lunch
- Nothing is free; even things that appear free often have to be paid for in the end.
- Synonyms: TANSTAAFL, TINSTAAFL
Translations
nothing is free; everything has a price
- Arabic: please add this translation if you can
- Bulgarian: няма такова нещо като безплатен обяд (njama takova nešto kato bezplaten objad)
- Catalan: ningú dóna duros a quatre pessetes
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 天下沒有白吃的午餐 / 天下没有白吃的午餐 (tiānxià méiyǒu báichī de wǔcān)
- Czech: žádný oběd není zadarmo
- Finnish: ilmaisia lounaita ei ole
- French: on n'a rien sans rien (fr), tout a un prix
- German: nichts ist umsonst, es wird einem nichts geschenkt
- Hebrew: אין ארוחות חינם (he) (ēn arukhot ḥinám)
- Hungarian: semmi sincs ingyen, semmit nem adnak ingyen, semmit sem adnak ajándékba
- Italian: i soldi non crescono sugli alberi
- Japanese: 只より高いものはない (ja) (tada-yori takai mono-wa nai)
- Norwegian: ingenting i livet er gratis
- Polish: nie ma darmowych obiadów
- Portuguese: não existe almoço de graça, não existe almoço grátis
- Russian: беспла́тный сыр быва́ет то́лько в мышело́вке (besplátnyj syr byvájet tólʹko v myšelóvke, literally “free cheese may be only in a mouse-trap”)
- Serbo-Croatian: nema besplatnog ručka
- Turkish: bedava yemek diye bir şey yoktur
- Ukrainian: немає такої речі, як безкоштовний обід (nemaje takoji reči, jak bezkoštovnyj obid)
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See also
Further reading