Spanish mistakes

Spanish mistakes are common, especially if you are studying a second language like Spanish. Many of these mistakes can help you improve and understand the language so you can speak it fluently and communicate with all Spanish speakers. That's why don Quijote wants to help you in this article so you can learn what common Spanish mistakes students make and how to avoid them.

This article is also available in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

Common Spanish mistakes

Learning a language from scratch is not easy, and Spanish, in particular, has a grammar and Spanish verbs tenses that are not easy at first. Spanish students often make several Spanish grammatical errors when they start out. Among the most common are:

• Pronunciation errors
• Confusion between gender and number of words
• Unnecessary use of pronouns
• Use of prepositions
• Grammatical errors in the use of verbs
• Changing the order of words
• Adding indefinite articles before professions
• Confusing homonymous words
• Not knowing the rules of capitalization
• False friends
• Forgetting the rules of accentuation
• Not differentiating between tú and usted

Below, don Quijote will break down some of these Spanish mistakes, why and how they are usually made, and how to avoid them so that your journey to learn Spanish in Spain is a success.

Pronunciation errors

Many students make mistakes in Spanish when pronouncing certain words because there is no similar or identical sound in their native language. The most difficult sounds for students to pronounce are “r”, “ll” and “j”, and sometimes the general intonation of the language.

The phonetic system of Spanish is very different from that of other languages, so many sounds do not exist in other languages. These Spanish mistakes are common when reading aloud or speaking quickly. Words with “r” such as ratón, guitarra, perro, or arroyo are quite difficult for many students to pronounce.

To try to avoid these types of mistakes in Spanish, you can listen to songs, podcasts, or programs in native Spanish and pay attention to the pronunciation of words with these sounds. You can also improve by repeating the words aloud at the same time and recording your voice to compare the sounds later.

Confusion in the gender and number of words

The use of nouns or adjectives with the incorrect gender and number is also one of the most common grammatical errors among Spanish learners. That's why don Quijote has several articles that can help you better understand the feminine and masculine gender of words, as well as the gender and number of adjectives in Spanish.

Why does this mistake occur in Spanish? Because in many languages, such as English, nouns do not have gender. Thus, students must learn the rules and how to use Spanish nouns.

How can you avoid this mistake? Learn Spanish nouns with their corresponding articles from the beginning. For example: el problema, la mano, el barco, el cuaderno, la galleta.

Unnecessary use of pronouns

In Spanish, it is often unnecessary to use a pronoun as the subject, as the meaning of the sentence does not change. For example, in the sentence: “Yo hablo español cada día” (I speak Spanish every day), the subject “yo” can be omitted and the sentence will sound more natural if you say: “Hablo español cada día”.

This grammatical Spanish mistake occurs because in other languages, such as English, pronouns are always required. If you translate literally, you may make this mistake.

To avoid it, remember that the conjugated verb already contains the subject in the previous sentence: hablo = yo. And, if you want, you can use pronouns only to emphasize or contrast a sentence.

Use of prepositions

Spanish learners can misuse Spanish prepositions, especially when they accompany a verb.

These Spanish mistakes occur because prepositions do not follow an exact logic and are different from those in the learner's native language. Thus, these types of errors occur when translating word for word.

You can avoid this by learning verbs together with their prepositions, for example, pensar en or soñar con. You can also make a list of real examples to help you understand and see how to use prepositions in Spanish.

Grammatical errors in the use of verbs

The misuse of verb tenses or conjugations is very common among Spanish learners. This is because the Spanish verbal system is very complex due to the tenses, modes, and conjugations of irregular verbs.

For example:

• Error: Ayer caminaba al parque
• Correct: Ayer caminé al parque

These types of grammatical errors occur when talking about past, future, or conditional actions. We recommend practicing verbs a lot, using online tools that can help you, or signing up for one of our intensive Spanish courses so that our teachers can help you with all your questions.

Changing word order

The word order can sometimes change the meaning of a sentence or make the sentence structure sound strange in Spanish. If the word order of adjectives has rules in your native language, this may influence your learning, especially if you translate a sentence literally.

For example, in Spanish “El coche rojo y grande” (The big red car) is correct. However, it is incorrect to say, “El coche rojo grande.”

Learn the common structure of a sentence in Spanish: subject + verb + predicate. And remember that adjectives in Spanish come after nouns. Example: coche rojo.

Adding indefinite articles before professions

Translating literally from your native language can lead to mistakes, especially when talking about professions in Spanish. When talking about professions in Spanish, the indefinite article is not used; instead, the verb is simply used followed by the profession.

In English, the article is used when talking about professions or identities. For example:

• Soy doctor --> I’m a doctor
• Soy artista --> I am an artist
• Eres profesora --> She is a teacher
• Tú eres jardinero --> You’re a gardener

Remember that in Spanish, you don't use an article with professions after the verb ser, unless it is modified, for example: “Es un excelente medico” (he is an excellent doctor).

In addition to all these, there are also common grammatical errors such as:

Confusing homonyms in Spanish because they are pronounced the same as other words but have different meanings. In our article on homonyms in Spanish, you will find examples and more details about this type of word.

Not knowing the rules of capitalization is another grammatical error, as Spanish and English do not follow the same rules. You can learn the capitalization rules in Spanish in our article.

Many false friends can lead you to misunderstand a word that looks similar in two different languages. For example: “exit” and “éxito” (English and Spanish); or “bizarre” and “bizarro”, which do not mean the same thing in French and Spanish.

Forgetting the rules of accentuation in Spanish and not putting accents on words written is a common mistake among international students. Another mistake is not knowing the difference between tú and usted and when to use each one in conversation.

These are some of the most common grammatical mistakes made by Spanish learners, but with practice and lots of follow-up, you'll be able to master them all and become fluent in the language. Come to don Quijote schools and explore cities in Spain with us while you learn all the tricks to speaking Spanish fluently.