Common Mistakes in Spanish
Making mistakes while learning a language is nothing to be ashamed of! All speakers (even native speakers) make mistakes. With that in mind, let's take a look at a few mistakes learners of Spanish often make.
1. Soy Bien o Estoy Bien
Learners of Spanish will often make the mistake of using ser(to be) instead of estar(to be) when talking about how they are.
The key here is that ser is used for permanent traits, while estar is used for temporary ones. For example:
Learn more about the differences between ser and estar in these articles:
2. Embarazada vs. Avergonzada
Embarazada(pregnant) is tantalizingly close to the English word embarrassed. ¡Ojo!(Careful!) This word has a very different meaning in Spanish than it does in English! If you say Estoy embarazada., you're saying I'm pregnant.
Note that all the phrases above use estar, not ser. This is because both being avergonzado and being embarazado are temporary states, though pregnancy is a rather long temporary state!
3. Me Gusta vs. Me Gusto
If you want to say you like something, be careful not to say me gusto, which literally translates to I am pleasing to myself. Gustaris a tricky verb in Spanish and is also a very commonly-used one, so it's worth taking some time to get it right!
English | Correct Spanish | Incorrect Spanish |
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I like it. | Me gusta. | Me gusto. |
I like them. | Me gustan. | Me gusto. |
Keep it mind that if you want to say you liked something in the past tense, you use the phrase me gustó.Take a look at these examples showing gustar!
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Learn more about gustar in this here!
4. La gente es or La gente son
Gente(people) is a singular noun in Spanish, so it should always be used with a singular verb.
English | Correct Spanish | Incorrect Spanish |
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People are...+ permanent trait | La gente es... | La gente son... |
People are...+ temporary trait | La gente está... | La gente están... |
Check out these examples!
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5. No problemo
This is an easy one - problemo is not a word in Spanish! The word for problem is problema.
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Although it ends in -a, problema is a masculine noun. Learn more about Spanish nouns and gender here!
6. Soy + Age
In Spanish, you don't say you are a certain age, you say you have a certain age. This means that you use the word tener(to have) and not ser (to be) when saying how old someone is.
Review the conjugations for tener here!