1. Dar
y Decir: Because of the irregular form of the indefinido conjugation of these
verbs “dar-to give" y "decir-to say”, while speaking we tend to unknowingly
switch from one to the other, especially the third person singular and plural
(dio y dijo, dieron y dijeron) Example: “They gave me money yesterday” instead
of saying “Ayer, me dieron dinero”, you might end up saying “Ayer, me dijeron
dinero”.
2. Gender:
One topic every Spanish learner should really pay attention to is the masculine
and feminine noun issue. Believe me, it can be really confusing sometimes and
surprisingly learners are not the only ones finding it difficult but also the
natives. Examples: Normally the rule says that any noun that ends with an “a”
is feminine and will bear the articles la o una therefore it is not surprising
that you attribute the article la to the noun “programa”–program (la programa)
o la tema-topic o la mapa-map. I hate to be the joy killer here but I’ve got
news for you: (programa, tema y mapa are masculine not feminine) so the correct
version is “el programa”, el tema”, y “el mapa”. Another is “agua” which simply
means “water”, we normally hear and say “el agua” and we are 100% correct for
saying that but what we don’t know is that “agua” is feminine not masculine. So
instead of saying este agua we should rather say esta agua-this water. I bet we
really like to know why right? Well that’s a lesson for another day.
3. El
final o la final: While narrating to your friends about that interesting movie
that you saw, all of a sudden you say “a la final de la película”, (wrong),
rather you should say “al final de la película”(correct). So note that you only
use “a la final” when you are talking about deportes (sports), e.g. a la final
de copa del mundo… (at the world cup final… (So use “el final” for months,
movies, stories, at the end of the queue, “at the end” but use “la final” for
sports)
4. Jugar
o Tocar: Jugar means to play and tocar can also means to play. Sometimes as
learners we commit blunders like jugar la guitarra o tocar el fútbol, not
knowing that the correct form is to say “tocar la guitarra –to play the guitar,
jugar al fútbol –to play football. So know it from now on that when you talk
about sports (deportes) use jugar and for instruments (instrumentos), use tocar.
5. “Me
too and Me neither: In the verb 'gustar' (to like or to love) and other verbs like it (encantar,
molestar, etc.), we often make mistake in giving responses like me too (yo
también) and me neither (yo tampoco) instead of giving the correct responses (a
mí también (me too) y a mí tampoco (me neither).
6. Age (I
am 20 years old): In Spanish, you don’t use the verb ser “to be” to say your
age, we use the verb "tener" (to have) to express our age but some of us still prefer
using the verb “to be” which is very wrong. (ejemplo instead of saying soy 20
años we say 'tengo 20 años' which is the correct one to use.
7. ‘To
be cold’ or ‘to be feeling hot’: Most of the time, learners make the mistake of
using ‘ser’ or ‘estar’ to indicate that they are feeling cold or hot. Example: Soy calor o estoy calor, soy frío u estoy frío. However,
in Spanish, ‘to be cold’ or ‘to be feeling hot’ is expressed with the verb ‘tener’.
Example: 'Tengo frío' (I am cold or I am feeling cold), Tengo calor (I am feeling
hot).
8. A
primary and secondary school teacher, a college teacher, a lecturer and a
professor in the university in Spanish: As Spanish learners, we tend to
attribute the name profesor or profesora to anybody that teaches whether in
the kindergarten, primary or the university, not knowing that the name varies
on the context it is being used. Therefore if you teach in the kindergarten/primary/secondary
school, you are referred to in Spanish as ‘un maestro’ (a male teacher), and ‘una
maestra’ (female teacher). A teacher in the college or a lecturer in the
university is called ‘un profesor’ (male lecturer), and una profesora (female
lecturer). Then a head of department in a college or a professor in a
university is addressed as ‘un catedrático’ (male professor), and ‘una catedrática’
(female professor).
9. La
gente es o la gente son: In Spanish ‘la gente’ (people) uses the singular third
person verb conjugation which means that ‘gente’ is used as a unit. So instead
of saying ‘la gente son buenas’ it is better and correct to say ‘la gente es
buena’. But note that the use of ‘las gentes’ has also been approved by the the
Real Academia Española (RAE).
10. The verb encantar: If the verb ‘encantar’
is used to express the love for something, there is no need adding adverb of
degree like "mucho" to it since the verb expresses the degree of one’s
love for something. For example: Say ‘me encanta la obra’ (I love the work or I
thoroughly love the work) instead of saying ‘me encanta mucho u muchísimo la obra’.
Fíjate: YOU CAN GUSTAR MUCHO U MUCHÍSIMO BUT YOU
CANNOT ENCANTAR MUCHO U MUCHÍSIMO.
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