Common Spanish Mistakes Foreigners Make
Learn about common Spanish mistakes made by foreigners and discover the correct expressions and grammar. Follow Lucía’s examples of frequent vocabulary and grammar mix-ups.
Introduction
Hola, ¿qué tal? This is Lucía, from My Daily Spanish.
Today I’m going to talk about very common Spanish mistakes I hear from foreigners and teach you the correct expressions and grammar. I hope you learn a lot from this blog.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
❌“Yo sé tu hermana” for “I know your sister”
It is a very common mistake among English speakers. English “to know” can often be translated with either of two Spanish verbs: saber and conocer.
Saber commonly expresses knowledge of facts or information, and saber + infinitive expresses knowing how to do something.
- Yo sé sumar (I know how to do addition)
- Sé lo que es (I know what it is)
- Yo sé español (I know [can speak] Spanish)
Conocer commonly expresses being acquainted with a person, place, or thing. It is not limited to things that cannot be studied. Use the personal a before a specific person: conozco a tu hermana.
✅Yo conozco a tu hermana (I know your sister)
Yo conozco este sitio (I know this place)
With this example, you will understand better:
- Conozco esta canción (I know this song), referring to the fact that you’ve heard this song before, you know which song it is.
- Yo me sé esta canción (I know this song). This refers to the fact that you know the lyrics of this song, you know how to sing it, or if you are a musician and say “Yo me sé esta canción” it means that you can play it.
❌“Yo soy 25 años” for “I’m 25 years old”
In Spanish, we say “Yo tengo veinticinco años,” with the verb “tener” (to have), so it literally means “I have 25 years.”
- ¿Cuántos años tienes? (How old are you?)
- Mi madre tiene 57 años (My mum is 57 years old)
Another thing to be careful with in this sentence is the word “años.” You can’t say “anos.”
- “¿Cuántos anos tienes?” means “how many anuses do you have?”
The letter Ñ is called eñe. Practice its sound in the syllables ña, ñe, ñi, ño, ñu. (Watch video.)
Choosing “estoy emocionado/a” for happy anticipation
Excitado or excitada can mean sexually aroused, but it can also mean agitated, stimulated, or excited in other ways. The RAE dictionary records both sexual and nonsexual senses. For happy anticipation, emocionado/a or entusiasmado/a is often a clearer choice.
In Spanish, “I’m excited” is “estoy emocionado” or “estoy emocionada.”
How to request something: “Can I have…?”
¿Puedo tener…? can be grammatical when asking about permission to have or keep something. For requesting an item from someone, however, ¿Me puedes dar…? or ¿Me puede dar…? is usually more natural.
For example, for “can I have a tissue?” it would be “¿me puedes dar un pañuelito?” This would mean “can you give me a tissue?”
When ordering at a restaurant, we can say:
- ¿Me pone un vaso de agua, por favor? (Can I have a glass of water, please?) – formal
- ¿Me puede dar un vaso de agua, por favor? (Can I have a glass of water, please?) – formal
- ¿Me das un vaso de agua, por favor? (Can I have a glass of water, please?) – casual
- Un vaso de agua, por favor (A glass of water, please) – a polite direct request
Why “estoy bien” is the usual reply for “I’m fine”
Estoy bueno/a can mean “I’m attractive” in colloquial speech. It can also refer to being healthy or recovered in some contexts and varieties. As a general reply to ¿Cómo estás?, estoy bien is the clear, widely useful choice for “I’m fine.”
- A: ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?)
- B: Estoy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú? (I’m fine, thanks. And you?)
- A: Yo también estoy bien. (I’m also fine.)
“Es muy rico” or “Está muy rico” for tasty food?
To praise the food you are tasting, está muy rico is a natural choice. Es muy rico can also be correct when describing a food’s general quality: El chocolate es muy rico (“Chocolate is very tasty”). The choice depends on meaning and context, not a blanket ban on ser with rico. See the guide to ser and estar.
For these reactions to a particular serving of food, use estar:
- Está riquísimo (It is very yummy)
- Está delicioso (It’s delicious)
❌“Más mejor” for “much better”
“Más mejor” is wrong, because “mejor” already means “better,” and you cannot add “más” (more), just like you cannot say “more better” in English.
“Mucho mejor” would be the right translation for “much better.”
For example, if you ask a person who was ill:
- A: ¿Estás mejor? (Are you better?)
- B: Mucho mejor, gracias. (Way better, thanks.)
Or if you asked somebody to correct something and they show it back to you:
- A: Así está mucho mejor. (This way it is much better.)
❌“Un tiempo” for “one time,” “once”
We don’t say “un tiempo” for this expression. We say “una vez.”
- Lo voy a repetir una vez más (I’m going to repeat it one more time)
- Yo he ido una vez a París (I have been to Paris once)
- Solo hemos quedado una vez (We have only met up once)
❌“Estoy caliente” for “I’m hot”
Estoy caliente can suggest sexual arousal, and in some regions or contexts it can express anger or agitation. It is not the usual way to say you feel too warm because of the weather. Use tengo calor for that meaning.
“Tengo calor” is what you want to say for “I’m hot.” It literally means “I have heat,” but that’s what we say for “I’m hot.” You can also say “hace calor” for “It’s hot.”
Hace mucho calor (It’s very hot)
❌“Estoy embarazado/a” for “I’m embarrassed”
In ordinary modern usage, estoy embarazada means “I’m pregnant,” not “I’m embarrassed.” For embarrassment, say estoy avergonzado or estoy avergonzada. The exclamation ¡Qué vergüenza! means “How embarrassing!” and is natural when reacting to an embarrassing situation.
Conclusion
I hope you learned something from this article and enjoyed the examples.
¡Hasta pronto!
