A catch-all of common errors to avoid.
1. Adding un or una in front of otro, when it means another. Correct – Otra cerveza, por favor.
2. ¿De dónde está usted? Wrong! This is confusing two things – location and origin. Correct –¿De dónde es (eres) usted? Where are you from?
3. Me llamo es Paco. Wrong! You’re literally saying that you call yourself “IS”. This phrase is not used as “my name is”. It literally means I call myself, so no ES, por favor.
4. Little prepositions dealing with time – it’s a mistake to say “en” with either of these Expressions, a las ocho de la mañana (8 in the morning), por la mañana (in the morning)
5. Doscientos sillas – wrong! This is one of the numbers which changes in gender to match the noun. Doscientos libros, doscientas sillas
6. Gracias para todo – wrong! Gracias por means thanks in exchange for something.
7. español y inglés – wrong! In this case the I sound in inglés disappears when Y is put in front of it. Use the substitute “e” here – español e inglés. But note you can say inglés y español! The idea of siete u ocho (where u substitutes for o) is the same.
8. Estoy caliente. If you mean to say that you’re in a passionate state right now, then you’ve expressed that. However, if you’re talking about temperature from the weather, tengo calor.
9. ¿Es caliente la sopa? No, no. If you want to know if it’s spicy – ¿Es picante la sopa? If you want to know the soup’s temperature, a changeable state – ¿Está caliente la sopa?
10. Soy un arquitecto – wrong. Drop the un or una in front of a person’s profession when it is Not modified. Soy arquitecto. I am an architect. …And now two really embarrassing ones…
11. Tengo muchos anos. If you’re trying to say you’re old, you’ve failed when you haven’t added the tilde NY sound to this word. However, you have described yourself as a physical anomaly in your lower region. Be sure to say año, especially in saying ¿Cuántos años tiene usted?
12. Estoy embarazada. Great if you’ll be giving birth, as it means you’re pregnant, not that you’re embarrassed.
