Incorrect grammar
When a person says that you are using incorrect grammar in spanish does that mean that you sound like you are using slang or that you don't make sense and that they can't understand you or they can't understand you at all period?
4 Answers
When a person says....
It probably varies from person to person. Often used as a sort of catch all phrase, the expression "bad grammar" is, more often than not, simply a way for a person to feel more official when telling you that the way you are talking sounds weird to them.
In fact, when pressed for more information as to why a particular expression might sound agrammatical, many native speakers can be found sorely lacking in their abilities to offer such analyses. Fortunately, most native speakers can offer you (assuming they understand the message that you were trying to convey) an alternative way of saying the same thing without sounding so...foreign.
Often, when people speak of "bad grammar," what they are in fact taking issue with happens to be more a matter of style or of usage than of grammar.
Consider the following sentence pairs, for example:
- Will you do me a favor?
Will you make me a favor?
Will you do a favor for me?
- Will you make a favor for me?
To an English speaker, the sentences that use the word "make" would sound weird; however, to a Spanish speaker either might seem like a natural equivalent to the Spanish expression, "¿Me haces un favor?" An English speaker might even suggest that such expressions (using "make") were ungrammatical. However, the actual grammatical construction of these sentences is identical. What is in question actually has to do, not with grammar, but with usage. Simply put, in English, we simply don't use the word "make" in this particular manner, and while it may be true that an expression such as "make me a favor" might still be understandable as well as grammatically sound, it will still sound weird.
The same is true of Spanish. There are plenty of sentences that are grammatically correct but sound weird simply because they are atypical of the way that people speak. In cases like this it is often best to simply ask for an alternative so that you have something to imitate.
You need to push for explanations all the time. Most natives are satisfied with letting you know that your grammar/speaking/something was 'off' and unless you push, most will be too respectful to elaborate.
Try "¿Puedes explicar mi error?" with the right expression to get a detailed explanation (hopefully!) or something like "Pues, ¿cómo se debe decirlo?" to find out how it 'should' be said (in many cases, you will get an idea of what went wrong from this alternative).
If you get confusion or 'weeeell, I am not entirely sure', go ahead and rephrase what you wanted to say. Then repeat one of the previous sentences and hopefully you will get enough info to figure out your mistake.
Another option is to remember what you said and post it here (preferably using the exact same words). This way, you can obtain a lot more input and get a broader, more accurate view of the whole matter (IRL, many natives might just not be acquainted to slang from another region. Where I live, the slang changes every twenty kilometers and every twenty days. You can't always keep up!).
But really, you need to push for those explanations! I've never met a Spanish guy online who hasn't told me that my Spanish is weird and left it right there until I prompted for explanations. I would probably never have figured out why 'Mama mía' is a no-no in Spanish if I hadn't 
Grammar is an artificial device for categorizing and analyzing the various aspects of language usage in written form. In spoken language the only "grammar" that applies is whether you are understood or not. If you are understood, it's good grammar.
What you need to be concerned about it how you use the language. Eventually you want to reach the same proficiency as those to whom you are speaking. Helado_electrico's advice is very good (I wish he had explained "mama mía").
If you learn how to use the various verb forms in the various tenses, how to make adjectives and articles agree with their nouns, you have mastered about 90% of Spanish grammar.
Hello Sc
Welcome to the SpanishDict forum. 
You asked:
When a person says that you are using incorrect grammar in spanish does that mean that you sound like you are using slang or that you don't make sense and that they can't understand you or they can't understand you at all period?
Bsically speaking ,...no, It doesn't mean that you are using slang and it doesn't necessarily always mean that you are not making sense ..or that they cannot understand you. It can often be that you are not using the natural and common ways that natives expressions use to express a particular idea, thought, or feeling! By the way, 'slang' is simply informal language; not grammatically incorrect....just inappropriate for more formal occasions! It can include professional jargon or technica terms only understood by practitioners in specific fields of expertise eg: engineering, medicine or law)
In practice, good grammar is concerned with using the correct placement of adjectives and nouns in a sentence and their agreement in gender and number: eg: Las tres chicas = The three girls; correct word order (syntax); correct use of prepositions such as por, para, a and de, etc..; .and correct punctuation such as the use of accents and interrogation marks, eg ¿ , ?, ! amoungst many other things.
You could speak Spanish and use poor grammar and perhaps still make yourself understood by natives. but why take the risk of being misunderstood ? In addition, you would probably stand out as somone who was a complete beginner or someone who did not take the trouble to learn the language properly. Here, I am talking about people learning Spanish as a second or as a additional language.
Grammar could also be said to include verbal phrases such as: 'go into' = entrar, take into account = tener en cuenta; the correct /appropriate use of idioms (ie: commony used colloquial expressions that cannot be translated literally) , and slang. The correct use of the last two, when also combined with good grammar, would indicate to natives that a person had reached a high level of proficiency in the language.
Examples of good grammar would be:
1.Encantado (de conocerle) ¿De dónde es Ud, por favor? = Pleased / nice to meet you! Where are you from, please?
2.Estoy muy cansado porque he estado trabajando duro (o mucho), hoy. = I am very tired because I have been working very hard, today.
3 Llevamos viviendo en Madrid cinco años = We have been living in Madrid for 5 years. This verbal construction with the present tense of the verb llevar is used in Spain, but my Colombian friend does not use it ! I think it may only be used in Spain as an idiomatic construction.
Examples of very bad grammar would be: estoy engnero, que haga tu? (Sincere apologies to native speakers! )
(Should be Soy ingeniero ¿En qué trabajas? / o ¿A qué te dedicas? )
= I am an engineer, what job do you do? / What do you do for a living?
Corrections to grammar: 1 Wrong verb, should be ser, not estar, for occupations .2 Incorrect spelling of the word engineer, 3. no inverted question mark ¿ at beginning of sentence, 4 no accent on the letter é of the word qué (punctuation) ; 5 wrong verb used to refer to a person's work/occupation: the verbs trabajar o dedicarse are more commonly used instead of hacer and 6 the wrong form of verb; the Imperative/command form should not be used for questions! 7 Incorrect personal pronoun which would not need to be used with familiar tú form in this context)
As you can see, there are many mistakes and while some would be understandable as a learner: like the mistake of using estar instead of ser, using the command form hagas would be a silly mistake for a question and the combined effect together would sound horrible to a natives's ear! (Perhaps these kind of mistakes explain in part the reticence/reluctance of some natives' to talk/engage in conversation with people learning their language, especially also when combined with poor pronounciaton by the non native ???)
I hope this explains basically what grammar is concerned with and what good and bad sentences would look like!
In conclusion, so that I am not misunderstood regarding my emphasis on good grammar, I would liike to add that using good /correct grammar should be a guide-line, and not allowed to become like a straitjacket to choke natural and free expression of tha language the way that natives speak! The best way to achieve this is simply to learn how natives express their thoughts, feelings and ideas and imitate them! (I don't believe that natural expression and good grammar are, by their nature, mutually exclusive!)
Yes, I also want to learn good grammar,(there is certainly a role for it) but through my weekly Spanish classes with my native Spanish teacher (From Spain) I want to learn natural, idiomatic and colloquial Spanish and even some slang that will enable me to speak more naturally and fluently like a native Spaniard!
I hope this helps
Corrijan mi español, por favor
