can't step in the same river twice
- idiom
- Literature
:
no se puede entrar dos veces en el mismo río
- After moving away for several years, returning home made her realize you can't step in the same river twice.
Examples
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No matter how hard they tried, the reunion proved you can't step in the same river twice—the feeling was different.
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He wanted to relive his childhood holidays, but soon saw that you can't step in the same river twice.
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You can't step in the same river twice!
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It's true that you can't step in the same river twice.
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After moving away for several years, returning home made her realize that you can't step in the same river twice.
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He wanted to relive his childhood holidays, but he soon understood that you can't step in the same river twice.
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The reunion taught them that you can't step in the same river twice—experiences change and evolve over time.
Synonyms
A unique thing or event that will never happen again
Something bad that already happened and cannot be changed so do not worry about it
How Repeatable
Surface Forms
Morphology
can't + step + in + the + same + river + twice
The literal image ('step' + 'same' + 'river' + 'twice') is directly recoverable from the constituents, so learners can access a physical clue about changing water; however, understanding it as a general proverb that experiences cannot be exactly repeated requires a metaphorical inference and some cultural/figurative knowledge. A B1 learner who only knows the words would likely get the literal sense but not reliably derive the intended abstract meaning, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Can't step in the same river twice comes from the picture of moving water: when you step into a river, the water where your foot was soon flows away, so you are not stepping into the exact same water again. That's why the saying means 'every experience is different' or 'things are always changing'.