Cuando me encuentro dinero con mi hermano

How do you say “finders keepers” in Spanish?

When two siblings each find cash on the ground, they settle it with a rule every Spanish-speaking kid knows by heart: el que se lo encuentra, se lo queda — “whoever finds it, keeps it,” the exact equivalent of “finders keepers.” The construction el que + verb (“whoever does X”) is worth learning alone — it turns any verb into “the person who,” building a rule or a nickname without naming anyone.

Legally this rule is a myth almost everywhere, including in most Spanish-speaking countries, where found money or property is technically supposed to go to its owner or the authorities — but as a playground law, el que se lo encuentra, se lo queda is treated as absolute. The same el que pattern reappears everywhere in Spanish: el que calla otorga (“silence gives consent”), el que busca, encuentra (“seek and you shall find”).