This site is dedicated to the most common errors found among speakers of Spanish
who are learning English. It is not meant to be a
complete grammar but mainly aimed at helping Spanish speaking students
to avoid making these common mistakes. The site may also help English teachers who
are planning to work in Latin America. The following points will be discussed:
-False Cognates
There are several words in Spanish that are similar in English, but have a
different meaning. Here are a few examples:
library = biblioteca
There are many words that sound similar but have different
meanings and are spelled differently. Then there are other
words that even sound exactly the same, but are spelled
differently and have different meanings. Here are some examples:
1) custom vs. costume:
Custom refers to repetitive, traditional activities e.g.
2) loose vs. lose:
Loose is the opposite of tight. It's an adjective. Imagine
Michael Jackson in Pavarotti's clothes.
3) guy vs. gay
This one can cause a lot of confusion. The mistake
normally occurs in writing only, because students know
the difference in pronunciation between guy and
gay. They also know the difference in meaning:
guy = boy/ young man as in: he's a very nice guy.
4) earn vs. win
The problem with these two is that they are both
translated into Spanish with ganar. Thus, you
get questions like: "How much do you win?" when referring
to your salary. However, you win money in the
lottery and you earn (or make) money at
your job.
5) I am agree
A common error among Spanish speakers is the translation
'I am agree for Estoy de acuerdo. One
should keep in mind that agree is a verb,
whereas de acuerdo, as in estoy de acuerdo,
is an adjective. Therefore, one should say:
And in past for example:
- I agreed
Here are some examples of 'Gringo'
influence on our students:
- hackear And a new English word:
- clonation (instead of cloning)
Perfect Tenses
I believe it's necessary to briefly discuss the concepts of
the present perfect and simple past. The problem is that students tend
to use simple past only, or simple past and present perfect at random. What follows
is just a short explanation, by no means complete. To practice these tenses,
I recommend you look at some of the links with grammar quizzes.
The concept (when to use it) of simple past is:
'A completed action at a definite time.'
Definite means that you know exactly when the
action happened, either through context or with the help of
a time expression. Time expressions for simple past are
for example:
- yesterday
The two concepts of present perfect are:
1) A completed action at an indefinite time in the past.
Examples:
1) Have you ever been to Canada?
Time expressions are:
1) Ever, never, already, yet, just.
If there's no context of time , you should use present perfect:
- Have you seen that movie?
Notice that the tense changes halfway the conversation,
because the question when is for a definite time.
First of all, there's the problem in pronunciation. Spanish speakers tend to pronounce this and
these the same. Therefore students frequently use only this in writing. They don't
seem to realize that there is also a plural form. This may look
very obvious, but it is a recurrent problem. Examples:
Definition: An adjective modifies a noun.
Students may know their adjectives, but the main problem
is: where to place them in the sentence. The thing is, in Spanish
you generally place the adjective after the noun. In English
it's the opposite. A simple example:
Incorrect: A house beautiful.
Incorrect: This is a course very interesting.
Now something about adverbs:
Defenition: an adverbs modifies
a) an adjective
Examples:
a) She has an incredibly beautiful voice!
How can you know when you have to use either an adjective or
an adverb? Simple: look at the word that needs to be modified.
Is it a noun, then use an adjective. Is it a verb, adjective or
adverb, then use an adverb.
It's easy to distinguish adverbs from adjectives: they
generally and with -ly, e.g:
There are some exceptions of course, for example:
Note: hardly also exists, but it has a different meaning, i.e. almost not.
Omission of Subject
Omission of the subject is a very common and understandable
mistake that speakers of Spanish make when studying
English. Just keep in mind that, unlike Spanish, a subject is
always necessary in English.
Here's an example of what I mean:
Students often write( or say):"Is important to talk to the teacher."
whereas they should write:It is important to talk to the teacher.
The word it may not refer to anything in particular,
but it is absolutely necessary to make this sentence
gramatically correct.
-Confusing Words
-Invented Words
-Perfect Tenses
-This/ These
-Adjectives vs adverbs
-Omission of Subject
-Other/ Another/ Others
-Comparative Forms (on Page 2)
-Capitalization (on Page 2)
-Slang (on Page 2)
-Phrasal Verbs/ Prepositions (on Page 2)
-Frequently Misspelled Words
-List of Irregular Verbs
False Cognates
Now that we're talking about win, we should also mention the difference between win and beat. Here's how they should be used:
América beat Guadalajara 9-0! (beat the opponent)
América won the game (win the game)
The problem is that library is not the same as
librero. Look:
bookstore = libreria
bookcase = librero
- Are you familiar with Shakespeare's work?
He is a famous scientific.
However, scientist
should be used to refer to the person:
He is a famous scientist.
parientes, on the other hand, refers to your
extended family, cousins, uncles, aunts etc. Therefore,
parientes is relatives in English.
Confusing Words
The celebration of the Day of the Dead is a typical
Mexican custom.
A costume is something that you wear e.g.
The costumes in Shakespeare in Love are very well made.
Lose is a verb and refers to objects that have
disappeared. Example:
"I can't find my wallet, I have lost it."
gay = homosexual (it used to mean something like:
lively or bright, but that's old fashioned and common
in the works of, say, Charles Dickens.
- I agree
- He agrees
- We agree
Now try this exercise on Spanglish.
- deletear
- vacumear
- mailear
- inclusionar
- votear
- parkquear
- echar un speich
- __________ ago
- last__________
2) An action that started in the past and continues in the present.
2) She has lived here for 4 years.
2) Since______, for______, so far, up to now.
- Yes, I have.
- When did you see it?
- I saw it last week.
Back to Top
This/ These
incorrect: "I think all this problems are related to poverty".
correct : "I think all these problems are related to poverty"
This is singular, whereas these is plural.
Adjectives vs Adverbs.
Correct: A beautiful house.
Correct: This is a very interesting course.
b) a verb
c) another adverb
b) He always drives fast.
c) He always drives terribly fast.
He is a bad student: bad is an adjective; it modifies the noun student.
He sings badly: badly is an adverb; it modifies the verb sings.
adjective adverb
fast fast
hard hard
Look at these sentences: do you feel the difference?:
a) He works hard.
b) He hardly works.
Now try this exercise on adjectives and adverbs.