Common errors in Spanish grammar

The following list has been drawn up on the basis of errors made in the
holiday work: questions 1 20. It is by no means exhaustive.
1. Italianisms and Frenchisms. These will cause you to lose marks:
take care to avoid such things as quando for cuando,
espagol for espaol, apert for abr, for es and
arriv for llegu.
2. Capital letters: Countries: Espaa, Italia, Alemania have them,
languages and people dont: hablo espaol e italiano, un francs.
3. Gender: Watch out! General rule (there are exceptions: el da, la
mano, la norma.)
Masculine
-O
-MA (majority)
-AJE

Feminine
-A
-DAD / -TUD
-CIN / -SIN

4. Subject pronouns: the subject pronouns are the following

Yo (I)

Nosotros (we)

T (you informal singular)

Vosotros
(you informal plural)
l / Ella / Ud. (he / she / you
Ellos / Ellas / Uds.
formal singular)
(they / you formal plural)
Not needed in Spanish as much as in French: usually for
emphasis, stress or contrast.
5. Questions: Dont forget the accent on the question words and the
upside question mark. Remember you have to say adnde vas?
6. Accents in the preterite: Regular verbs must have accents
without them the meaning is different. Irregular verbs (preterite
grave) do not.
comi una hamburguesa cuando fue a Burger King:
(Note position of accent on comi)
7. Accents in the imperfect tense: in er and ir verbs the accent
always comes on the i. In ar verbs the accent only comes on the
a for nosotros forms:

Hablaba
Hablabas
Hablaba
Hablbamos
Hablabais
Hablaban

Coma
Comas
Coma
Comamos
Comais
Coman

8. Radical changing verbs in the present tense: They only change

inside the boot check in a dictionary or on your grammar
sheets to see if they do change.
9. Radical changing verbs in the imperfect tense: Verbs do not
undergo radical change in imperfect.
10.
Pedir vs. Preguntar: Pedir means to ask for; preguntar
means to ask a question: pido una coca cola but pregunt
cunto costaba.
11.
Haber vs. Tener: Haber is only used as part of a compound
tense (perfect/pluperfect). Use tener for to have: tengo un gato,
lo has visto?
12.
Hablar vs. Decir: Hablar means to speak/talk; decir means
to say.
13.
Basic agreement of adjective and noun: in both number
and gender: ella es francesa, los pantalones negros
14.
Ser vs. Estar
Ser
Descriptions
Occupations
Characteristics
Time/Date
Occupations
Relationships

Estar
States
Emotions
Location
Feelings

Soy estudiante (note no un)

Cuando estaba en Espaa
Soy ingls
15.

Jugar a + sport: Juego al hockey en el segundo trimestre.

16.
Spelling changes in present tense and preterite: see pages
6 + 18 of work book: corrijo, saqu, jugu.

17.

Usted / Ustedes: take the third person of the verb.

18.
Oler: a very weird verb (huelo, hueles, huele, olemos, olis,
huelen). In Spanish it does not have a negative connotation as in
English. You have to say: huele mal or huele bien. Watch out:
huele a gas.
19.
Dictionary use: Be careful when you look words up that
they mean what you want them to. Try looking up in the other
side to check: vidrio is glass (material), vaso is what you drink
from.
20.
Carolina: The consonants are the only letters which can be
double in Spanish. Even then, NN is quite rare.
21.

Caber: means to fit in. No quepo aqu: I dont fit in here.

22.
Negatives: Nadie vino but no vino nadie and No vi
nada
23.
Debajo de vs. Bajo: Debajo de means underneath
physically, bajo means under figuratively: haba un gato debajo
de la mesa, bajo Franco no haba mucha libertad en Espaa.
Proof-reading
Many basic errors can be eliminated by means of thorough
proofreading. Try the following next time when you write in Spanish.
1. As you work, refer to the above list so that you avoid some of the
traps.
2. If you are unsure, ask a teacher or look up the issue in a
grammar book, a dictionary, or your revision pack.
3. Once your essay is complete, read through it looking for errors of
a particular kind: i.e. agreements.
4. Then repeat for other error types.
5. Its a good idea to make a note of things you habitually get
wrong: you can make a list to check your work against.
6. If you often proof read your work, it will become second nature
and your marks will improve.