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:.

1. 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…

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.)