me da verguenza?
I'm trying to explain a recent experience of meeting a native Spanish speaker, and would like to say the following:
"I felt nervous, because I was embarrassed that I might say something wrong."
(The "something wrong" refers to making grammatical errors, etc -- not referring to something inappropriate.)
What is the correct way to say that? Something like..."Estuve nerviosa porque me dió verguenza cometer un error (o decir algo incorrecto)"? Sorry, I know my verb tenses must be screwed up as well. Any help appreciated. 
8 Answers
Estuve nerviosa porque me daba vergüenza cometer un error (o decir algo incorrecto)
this is correct
Muchas gracias.
I always make that same mistake and never learn, haha... :s
Rodrigo said:
creo que tu oración no tiene nada de malo!!!
¿De verdad? ¿Hablas del vocabulario o la conjugación de los verbos? :D
I wonder if you could also say "Estuve nerviosa, temiendo equivocarme (de palabra)."
Ooh I like the sound of that...it's neater. Thank you, James. :>
I've already written my assignment anyway -- but just out of curiosity, if anyone sees this...does temer [algo] carry more or less the same weight, so to speak, as darse vergüenza? Are they easily interchangeable'
Mimi said:
does temer [algo] carry more or less the same weight, so to speak, as darse vergüenza? Are they easily interchangeable?
I don't think they are the same thing, but I made the change for the sake of logic, rather than language. That is, you can't really be embarrassed before you have made a mistake, so if you wanted to use the word embarrass, you would have to rewrite the English, such as "I felt nervous that I might embarrass myself by saying something wrong." You might translate that as "Estuve nerviosa de ponerme en ridículo (pasar una vergüenza) equivocándome de palabra."
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