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Common Pitfalls
This document covers some basic, common pitfalls that English speakers
face in their ambition to learn Spanish. No matter how great a learner, or
how diligent a student, most of us as non-native speakers will make these
errors at least a few times. A very common error that language students
make is to attempt to use direct translation from English to Spanish. This
often creates a mess in that the word order at times is very different, as
well as the word choices for idioms and expressions. Also, remember that
adjectives follow nouns in Spanish rather than precede them: white house
= casa blanca. When looking up words in the dictionary, ALWAYS cross
reference as it is common to see a misused word. For example, in English
we use “pause” words like “Well…” If one looks up the word “well” in
Spanish and does not cross reference, it is easy to use the word “pozo.” If
one wants to say they are well, or to use the word as we often do to start a
sentence like “Well, I need to go” and don’t cross reference, the result is a
mess of a sentence as “pozo” means the type of well you draw water from.
Always cross reference.
WHAT’S YOUR NAME? Most people get it pretty easily that ¿Cómo te
llamas? or ¿Cómo se llama? means “What is your name?” Literally, the
question is asking “What do you call yourself?” To literally say “What is
your name” is “Cuál es tu/su nombre?” which is a different way to ask the
same thing. The answer, however, is often confused by the English speaker
because of, again, literal translation and trying to speak English with
Spanish words, if that makes sense. To answer “Cómo te llamas?” one
should reply “Me llamo (Julio)” but often learners will mix the two and say
“Me llamo es (Julio)” which is not correct. This actually says “I call myself is
Julio.” Not good. It is an easy mistake to make because it sounds more like
what we say in English: My name is…
EITHER state your name with “Me llamo” or “Mi nombre es” but not a
combination of the two.
TENER: TENER, the verb TO HAVE, is a verb that is used in many
common idiomatic expressions that English speakers often will mistakenly
use SER (TO BE) to express. ALWAYS use tener for:
AGE—Yo tengo 25 años. (NEVER “Soy 25 años”)—this is another common
error of direct translation.
The following idioms:
TENER hambre/sed/sueño/miedo/frío/calor/celos/prisa (to be
hungry/thirsty/tired/scared/cold/hot/jealous/in a hurry)—In English we say I
AM which in Spanish, is the verb SER or ESTAR.
QUERER vs. GUSTAR: Querer means ‘to want’ where gustar means ‘to
like’. “Yo quiero Taco Bell” means I want Taco Bell, where “Me gusta Taco
Bell” means I like Taco Bell. The verb QUERER is also used to mean love in
situations like “I love/want you” (Te quiero)—but is not used to mean I love
Taco Bell. It is only used with people in this way. To say one loves
something (as we would say something like “I love skiing”), use
ENCANTAR which works as the verb GUSTAR does: Me encanta esquiar.
A PERSONAL: In Spanish, the word ‘a’ is used between a verb and a
person but it does not translate in English, so is often forgotten. To say “I
call my mom” would be “Llamo a mi madre.” To say “We wait for the
doctor” would be “Esperamos a la doctora.” But to wait for the bus would
be “Esperamos el autobus.”
The personal A is NOT, however, used with the verb tener. For example,
Tengo dos hijos (I have two children) would NOT have the ‘a’ between the
verb and people.
SER vs. ESTAR: These verbs cause language learners a lot of grief.
Basically, SER is used to describe things that don’t change (along with
origin and professions) where ESTAR describes conditional or temporary
things. Examples: Soy de California, Eres rubio, Somos altos, vs. Estoy
enferma, Estás en Kansas City, Estamos tristes etc. These verbs require a
lot of study.
ADJECTIVE AGREEMENT: In Spanish, adjectives always reflect the
number and gender of the words they describe. As we don’t have gender
per se in the English language, this is a tricky thing to get used to. First off,
gender in language does not mean that feminine words only have to do
with “women” and masculine words only have to do with “men.” It is not
like that at all. Two good examples are the Spanish words for tie and dress.
Tie is “la corbata” –a feminine word--and is typically a man’s article of
clothing were “el vestido”—a masculine word-- is the word for dress, which
is typically something worn by a woman. The gender and number of a
word is obvious by looking at the definite or indefinite article: el/la/los/las
(un/una/unos/unas). If you se “LOS” in front of a word, the adjective needs
to be masculine and plural: Los perros son blancos. Similarly, observe the
adjectives and how they are different for the following sentences: El perro
es blanco. Las casas son amarillas. La casa es amarilla.
Adjectives follow nouns in Spanish and precede them in English, so if it
sounds backwards, it is probably right!
MUY vs. MUCHO: “Muy” means very. (El bebé es muy pequeño.)—The
baby is very small. (Estoy muy muy cansada.)--I am very very tired.
“Mucho” means a lot. (Tengo mucho trabajo.)—I have a lot of work. (Hay
muchos carros en la calle.)—There are a lot of cars in the street.
BUENO vs. BIEN: This concept is mixed up a lot in English as well.
“Bueno” means good. (Los tacos son buenos.)—The tacos are good.
“Bien” means well. (Estoy bien. Bien hecho.)—I am well. Well done.
DIVERTIRSE: This verb means “TO HAVE FUN” and is so very often
literally translated, logically, to be “TENER DIVERTIDO” (which sadly is
incorrect.) This is again direct translation gone wrong. Also seen a lot from
the novice language learner is “tener un buen tiempo” for “to have a good
time.” Unfortunately, when this is said, the person is saying “to have good
weather.” Use the verb DIVERTIRSE. Me divierto en la playa. (I have fun at
the beach.) Nos divertimos mucho anoche. (We had a lot of fun last night.)
¡Qué te diviertas en Madrid! (Have fun in Madrid!) Expressions equivalent
to “having a good time” are: Lo pasamos bien. (We had a good time.) Lo
pasamos en grande. (We had a blast.) Espero que lo pases bien en Mexico.
(I hope you have a good time in Mexico.)