Spanish For Beginners: Top 10 Common Mistakes To Avoid

At BaseLang, we focus on communication above perfection.

Making little mistakes is part of the process and over time, you will easily eradicate these little errors.

However, in this post, we will cover 10 of the most common mistakes that beginner Spanish students tend to make, and how you can avoid repeating them to take your Spanish to the next level.

Let’s dive in.

1. Overusing Personal Pronouns

One of the most commonly asked questions we receive from beginner students is:

When do I need to use the personal pronouns?

I’ll admit, I can understand why this causes a little confusion at times, since personal pronouns are only relevant in specific scenarios.

It’s time to clear this up.

There are two scenarios when you might need to include personal pronouns:

1) When a verb is conjugated the same for more than one personal pronoun, and context doesn’t tells us who the subject is.

For example:

• You (plural) / They have to study more – Tienen que estudiar más
• He / She does his / her homework everyday – Hace su tarea todos los días

2) If we want to emphasize the subject

In other words, the personal pronoun acts as the equivalent of how you might emphasize something in English when giving an order, or when you want to make sure that you *really* get your point across (YOU do it vs you do it).

It’s that simple.

2. Not Respecting The Gender Or Number

Although most Spanish students will be aware of this mistake, it doesn’t make it easy to avoid.

As you probably know by now, whether you are speaking about objects, animals or people, all Spanish nouns have a gender: male or female.

Likewise, when you use adjectives to describe, identify, modify, or quantify something (a noun or a pronoun), the adjective MUST match gender and quantity.

Let’s take a look at some simple examples of how nouns and adjectives work together.

Common mistake	Correct phrase	English Equivalent
Los carros es rápido	Los carros son rápidos	The cars are fast
Las casa son grande	Las casas son grandes	The houses are big
Las flores es bonita	Las flores son bonitas	The flowers are pretty

So how do you identify if a noun or adjective is male or female?

In most cases feminine words end in -a and masculine words in -o (of course, there are many exceptions).

An extremely common mistake is using the wrong article with a noun.

Let’s look at some incorrect examples where the article doesn’t respect the noun’s gender or number.

• La casas
• Los estudiante
• Las amigos
• El comida
• Las manzanas son rojos
• El perro es pequeña

Now, the same examples, with the correct articles.

• Las casas
• Los estudiantes
• Los amigos
• La comida
• Las manzanas son rojas
• El perro es pequeño

Use the below table to make sure you correctly match the article with the noun/adjective.

Article	Subject/Nouns	Adjective
El (the)	Masculine and singular	Masculine and singular
Un (a)	Masculine and singular	Masculine and singular
La (the)	Feminine and singular	Feminine and singular
Una (a)	Feminine and singular	Feminine and singular
Los (the)	Masculine and plural	Masculine and plural
Unos (some)	Masculine and plural	Masculine and plural
Las (the)	Feminine and plural	Feminine and plural
Unas (some)	Feminine and plural	Feminine and plural

As you can see in the table shown above, subjects/nouns will always match articles and adjectives in gender and number as we have mentioned before.

Let’s see some examples:

Masculine and singular

• El carro rojo – The red car
• Un carro rojo – A red car

Feminine and singular

• La casa blanca – The white house
• Una casa blanca – A white house

Masculine and plural

• Los carros rojos – The red cars
• Unos carros rojos – Some red cars

Feminine and plural

• Las flores amarillas – The yellow flowers
• Unas flores amarillas – Some yellow flowers

3. Where To Place Spanish Adjectives?

In Spanish, the adjective is generally placed AFTER the subject.

Naturally, many students who attempt to translate directly from English make the mistake of translating word for word, and therefore placing adjectives before the subject.

Let’s take a couple of simple examples:

English sentence	Word for word (incorrect) translation	Correct Spanish Translation
The black dog	El negro perro	El perro negro
The fast car	El rápido carro	El carro rápido
A happy ending	Un feliz final	Un final feliz
Some expensive beers	Unas caras cervezas	Unas cervezas caras

 

4. Confusing Spanish Verbs: SER v Estar

Oh my.

This one is a biggie when it comes to beginner Spanish mistakes.

The 1-second guide is as follows.

When to use SER	When to use Estar
Permanent states	Temporary states
Characteristics	Locations

Of course, that’s a very short take on Ser v Estar.

Here are a couple of examples that clarify the differences between both.

English sentence	Wrong Spanish Translation	Correct Spanish Translation
I am tired	Yo soy cansado	Yo estoy cansado
My mom is at the mall	Mi mamá es en el centro comercial	Mi mamá está en el centro comercial
He is a doctor	Él está un doctor	Él es un doctor

For a full explanation, make sure to read our ultimate guide on SER v ESTAR here.

5. Using Present Progressive (-ing) Without The Verb Estar

In English, we use “-ing” verbs not only to express progressive actions, but also after a preposition. For example: before (going), then (arriving), after (leaving), by (driving).

However, in Spanish, the equivalent -ing for present, past and future, will ALWAYS require conjugating the verb “estar”.

A common mistake many Spanish students make is separating the progressive -ing and using it without the “estar” conjugation, after prepositions, just as we do in English.

This simply doesn’t work in Spanish.

Let’s take a look at some examples of the present progressive (-ing form) being used incorrectly.

• I like being here – Me gusta estando aquí
• I prefer buying pizzas – Yo prefiero comprando pizzas
• Reading is my favorite hobby – Leyendo es mi pasatiempos favorito
• Before eating you should wash your hands – Antes de comiendo debes lavarte las manos

Now, below is the correct way to express the above ideas.

• I like being here – Me gusta estar aquí
• I prefer buying pizzas – Prefiero comprar pizzas
• Reading is my favorite hobby – Leer es mi pasatiempos favorito
• Before eating you should wash your hands – Antes de comer debes lavarte las manos

Read our full guide on the Present Progressive here

6. Confusing How, What and Which

Again, this mistake typically happens when a beginner student tries to directly translate English to Spanish (a common theme of this post, no?).

Don’t worry, we’ll explain how to avoid it.

Many sentences where we would use an English “what” requires using a Spanish “which” (cual) or “how” (cómo).

So how do you differentiate when to use qué (what) v cuál (which)?

In Spanish, qué (what) is used when asking about something with only one possible answer.

•  ¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?)

Time is a fixed idea, and so we use qué as there is only one possible answer.

On the other hand, cuál (which) is used when the answer has more than one option to choose from.

• ¿Cuál es tu nombre? (What is your name?)

In this example, technically, your name could be one of many options (as strange as that may sound).

Cómo (how) is used to ask information about the way something happens or how it’s being done.

• ¿Cómo llegaste? (How did you arrive?)

Below is an example of the most common ways that students confuse qué v cuál.

English sentence	Wrong Spanish Translation	Correct Spanish Translation
What is your name?	¿Qué es tu nombre?	¿Cuál es tu nombre?
What is your favorite color?	¿Qué es tu color favorito?	¿Cuál es tu color favorito?

(For a broader take on this concept, read our in-depth blog post on Spanish interrogatives here)

7. Confusing Adverbs (Bien, Mal) vs Adjectives (Buen, Bueno, Malo)

Bien and Mal are adverbs

Spanish adverbs are words used to modify or intensify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They are invariable, meaning that they don’t change based the gender or number of the subject.

Adverbs normally describe how something was done.

• The soccer game was good – El juego de fútbol estuvo bien

• I did something wrong with the recipe – Hice algo mal con la receta

• They cook very well – Ellos cocinan muy bien

• The children behaved badly in school today – Los niños se portaron mal hoy en la escuela

• Are you ok? – ¿Estás bien?

• She felt bad yesterday – Ayer ella se sentía mal

Bueno, buen and malo are adjectives

Spanish adjectives help us describe the world around us, be it characteristics of people, animals, places, things or facts.

Adjectives normally describe how something is.

As we saw earlier, adjectives should always agree with the gender and number, which in this context, means the adjectives listed above can be: bueno, buena, buenos, buenas , malo, mala, malos, malas.

• He is a very good teacher – Él es un profesor muy bueno

• This is a bad place – Este es un lugar malo

• They are very good dancers – Ellos son muy buenos bailarines

• I have bad news – Tengo malas noticias

• The dogs are good pets – Los perros son buenas mascotas

• She is good at everything she does – Ella es buena en todo lo que hace

Now let’s clarify some important points about Spanish adjectives.

Earlier, we mentioned that adjectives are normally placed after the noun.

However, they can also be placed before a noun with one specific purpose – to emphasize a characteristic of a noun. While this form is most commonly found in poetry and novels, you might hear native speakers use it in conversation from time to time.

When it comes to the masculine adjectives, bueno and malo both lose the last vowel if they are used in front of the noun. which leaves us with buen and mal in front of a masculine noun.

The adjectives buen and mal can be tricky because they may look like an adverb even when they are being used as an adjective in front of a masculine noun. Depending on the context, you will know if somebody is talking about characteristics or describing how an action it’s being done.

When and how to place these two adjectives is up to the speaker, since both forms are correct and keep the same meaning and concept.

• This is a good wine – Este es un buen vino (adjective)

• He is a bad man – Es un mal hombre (adjective)

• They do a good job – Ellos hacen un buen trabajo (adjective)

• They work really bad – Ellos trabajan realmente mal (adverb)

8. Confusing “Muy” vs “Mucho”

This is an easy mistake to make as a beginner.

The first thing to note is that muy is an adverb, and as you know by now, Spanish adverbs do not change based on gender or number.

Muy is the equivalent to “very” in English, and is used on two very specific occasions.

Before an adjective:

• She is very pretty  – Ella es muy bonita

• The cake is very delicious – La torta está muy deliciosa

• We are very tired – Nosotros estamos muy cansados

Before another adverb:

• The market is very far – El mercado está muy lejos

• You are driving very fast – Estás manejando muy rápido

• Your Spanish is very good – Tu español es muy bueno

On the other hand, mucho is both an adjective and an adverb.

Depending on context, you will identify its use.

1) Mucho as an adjective

As an adjective, it will match gender and number with the noun (mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas)  and its main function is to increase the amount of the accompanying noun.

• There are many people in the bank – Hay mucha gente en el banco

• I don’t have a lot of money – No tengo mucho dinero

• There are many cold drinks – Hay muchas bebidas frías

• There are many sweets in the kitchen – Hay muchos dulces en la cocina

2) Mucho as an adverb:

This is the equivalent to “a lot” in English and is placed after the verb, to intensify its meaning. As an adverb, mucho, will never change gender and number.

• Today I worked a lot – Hoy trabajé mucho

• I have gained a lot of weight – He aumentado mucho peso

• It is very hot – Hace mucho calor

• I have a bad headache – Tengo mucho dolor de cabeza

9. Confusing Reflexive pronouns with Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns, direct object pronouns and indirect object pronouns.

These commonly cause confusion for Spanish students, since all three look very similar.

Let’s see how to tell them apart.

Reflexive pronoun

A reflexive pronoun accompanies a reflexive verb and is used when the subject and the complement of the verb are the same.

In simple terms, the subject (person) doing the action is also affected by the action, hence the name “reflexive” pronoun.

• I bathe (myself) every day – Yo me baño todos los días

• We comb our hair before sleeping – Nosotros nos peinamos el cabello antes de dormir

Direct Object Pronoun

We use direct object pronouns to describe who is being affected by the action. The easiest way to find out what is the direct object pronoun is by asking: who is receiving the action of the verb?

• I have a cat, and I feed him two times at day – Yo tengo un gato y lo alimento dos veces al dia

• We have many chocolates at home, but we don’t eat them every day – Tenemos muchos chocolates en casa, pero no los comemos a diario

Indirect Object Pronouns

And finally, indirect object pronouns will tell us whom, or for whom, the main action is for.

• I bought a gift for your little sister – Le compré un regalo a tu hermanita

• She cooked dinner for her parents – Ella les cocinó la cena a sus padres

The problem for most beginner students is that all three pronouns look similar, and so this causes some confusion.

In the below table, you can see how reflexive, direct and indirect objects pronouns work.

Personal pronoun	Reflexive Pronoun	Direct object pronoun	Indirect object pronoun
Yo	Me (myself)	Me (me)	Me (me)
Tú	Te (yourself)	Te (you)	Te (you)
Él – Ella – Usted	Se (himself – herself)	Lo (him) – La (her) (You formal)	Le (him – her – you formal)
Nosotros	Nos (ourselves)	Nos (us)	Nos (us)
Ustedes – Ellos – Ellas	Se (You plural, themselves)	Los – Las (them)	Les (you plural – Them)

Now let’s see some examples of all three in action.

Form	Spanish	English equivalent
Reflexive Pronoun	Yo me levanto temprano todos los días	I get up early everyday
Direct object pronoun	Yo la desperté temprano	I woke her up early
Indirect object pronoun	Yo le hice el desayuno a mi hija	I made my daughter breakfast
Reflexive Pronoun	Ella se compró zapatos nuevos	She bought new shoes
Direct object pronoun	Ella finalmente los compró	She finally bought them
Indirect object pronoun	Ella les compró estos zapatos a su mamá	She bought these shoes for her mom

If you are still a little confused by this part, or simply want a more in-depth explanation, then make sure to read our comprehensive guides to reflexive pronouns here, direct object pronouns here and indirect object pronouns here,

10. Accent Marks and Tones – Same word, different meaning

As a native English speaker, it can take time to become used to respecting the accent marks that are so important in Spanish.

And what happens?

Well, the best case scenario is that you find yourself in an embarrassing situation, like calling your father (papá) a potato (papa).

Of course, if the error isn’t that obvious to a native speaker, then it’s likely that you’ll end up saying something completely different and causing a lot of confusion.

So how do you avoid this?

An accent tells us which syllable to emphasize, and in some cases, will completely change the meaning of the word – even if it looks identical to non-native Spanish speakers.

Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly mispronounced Spanish words and show their meaning with and without accents.

1	2	English
Él	El	He / The
Tú	Tu	You / Your
Está	Esta	Is / This
Trabajó	Trabajo	He/She worked / I work
¿Por qué?	Porque	¿Why? / Because
Práctico	Practico	Practical / I practice
Practicó	Practico	I practiced / I practice
Esté	Este	I am (Present subjunctive) / This
Cantó	Canto	He/She sang / I sing
Cambió	Cambio	He/She changed / I change
Bañó	Baño	He/She bathed / Bathroom
Lavó	Lavo	He/She washed / I wash
Miró	Miro	He/She watched / I watch
Gritó	Grito	He/She yelled / I yell
Habló	Hablo	He/She spoke / I speak
Guardó	Guardo	He/She saved / I save
Bailó	Bailo	He/She danced / I dance
Pisó	Piso	He/She stepped on / Floor

Spanish For Beginners: Practice

1. Select the right personal pronoun for every sentence.

1. Puedo ir a tu casa el miércoles (usted-nosotros-yo)
2. Necesitan estudiar para el examen (Él-ustedes-ella)
3. Cantamos una canción en la fiesta (Tú-ustedes-nosotros)
4. Duerme toda la noche en la habitación (Ella-ellas-yo)
5. Compras la comida para la reunión (Usted-nosotros-tú)

2. Keeping the object in the sentence, modify the articles and the adjectives to correct the sentences.

1. Él tiene un casa grandes
2. Mi hija come las manzana rojo
3. Me gusta escribir con la lapices amarillas
4. Ustedes viajan en unas tren azules
5. Nosotros respondemos lo preguntas difícil

3. Select the correct adjective and place it in the correct position in the sentence.

1. Quiero comprar un carro (alta-barato-aburrida)
2. Él toca una canción con la guitarra (larga-amarilla-frío)
3. Necesito un perro, mi apartamento no es muy grande (feo-pequeño-roja)
4. Tenemos que cortar los tomates (flaca-cortos-rojos)
5. Yo llevo el equipaje hasta la habitación (pesado-felices-caliente)

4. Fill in the blanks with the right conjugation of the verb “to be”.

1. Él _______ un hombre feliz
2. Mi familia _______ en el restaurante
3. _______ muy feliz por ti, felicidades
4. Ellos _______ los jugadores del equipo de fútbol
5. Mi perro _______ blanco y _______ en el jardín

5. Translate the following sentences to their correct form.

1. Me encanta trabajando en esta oficina
2. Comiendo sin azúcar es bueno para tu salud
3. Caminando es mi ejercicio favorito
4. Escuchando música en español es una buena forma de aprender nuevas palabras
5. Prefiero cenando en casa

6. Correct the following sentences.

1. ¿Qué es tu color favorito?
2. ¿Cómo es tu edad?
3. ¿Qué es tu nombre?
4. ¿Que es el nombre de tu mascota?
5. ¿Que es la dirección de la biblioteca?

7. Fill the blank space wit the right adverb or adjective

1. Es un _____ perro (bien – buen)
2. Ella es _____ estudiante ( mal – buena)
3. El pollo no estaba _____ cocinado (Bien – malo)
4. Todo salió _____ Estamos tristes (Mal – Buena)
5. Siempre venimos a este restaurante es muy _____  (Malo – Bueno)

8. Tell what sentences are correct or incorrect, correct if it’s needed.

1. Mi hijo estudia mucho
2. Necesitamos muy dinero para viajar
3. Ella baila mucha bien
4. Hoy hace mucho frío
5. El café esta muy caliente

9. Use the correct pronoun (reflexive, direct or indirect)  in the following sentences

1. Tú _____ acuestas muy tarde los domingos  ( te – me )
2. Su papá _____ compró este libro ( le – los )
3. Mi abuela _____ hizo una torta ( nos – se )
4. El _____ afeita todos los días ( se – les )
5. ¿Ya vieron la película? Si ya _____ vimos ( lo – la )

10. Correct the following sentences

1. ¿Porque no comes tu ensalada?
2. Él estudio ayer todo el día
3. El esta en la habitación
4. Ella no vino por qué esta cansada
5. Mi hermano espero toda la noche por ti

Answers

1.

1. Puedo ir a tu casa el miércoles (usted-nosotros-yo)
2. Necesitan estudiar para el examen (Él-ustedes-ella)
3. Cantamos una canción en la fiesta (Tú-ustedes-nosotros)
4. Duerme toda la noche en la habitación (Ella-ellas-yo)
5. Compras la comida para la reunión (Usted-nosotros-tú)

2.

1. Él tiene una casa grande
2. Mi hija come la manzana roja
3. Me gusta escribir con los lápices amarillos
4. Ustedes viajan en un tren azul
5. Nosotros respondemos las preguntas difíciles

3.

1. Quiero comprar un carro barato
2. Él toca una canción larga con la guitarra
3. Necesito un perro pequeño, mi apartamento no es muy grande
4. Tenemos que cortar los tomates rojos
5. Yo llevo el equipaje pesado hasta la habitación

4.

1. Él es un hombre feliz
2. Mi familia está en el restaurante
3. Estoy muy feliz por ti, felicidades
4. Ellos son los jugadores del equipo de fútbol
5. Mi perro es blanco y está en el jardín

5.

1. Me encanta trabajar en esta oficina
2. Comer sin azúcar es bueno para tu salud
3. Caminar es mi ejercicio favorito
4. Escuchar música en español es una buena forma de aprender nuevas palabras
5. Prefiero cenar en casa

6.

1. ¿Cuál es tu color favorito?
2. ¿Cuál es tu edad?
3. ¿Cómo es tu nombre?
4. ¿Cómo es el nombre de tu mascota?
5. ¿Cuál es la dirección de la biblioteca?

7.

1. Es un buen perro
2. Ella es buena estudiante
3. El pollo no estaba bien cocinado
4. Todo salió mal. Estamos tristes
5. Siempre venimos a este restaurante es muy bueno

8.

1. Mi hijo estudia mucho
2. Necesitamos mucho dinero para viajar
3. Ella baila muy bien
4. Hoy hace mucho frío
5. El café está muy caliente

9.

1. Tú te acuestas muy tarde los domingos
2. Su papá le compró este libro
3. Mi abuela nos hizo una torta
4. El se afeita todos los días
5. ¿Ya vieron la película? Si ya la vimos

10.

1. ¿Por qué no comes tu ensalada?
2. Él estudió ayer todo el día
3. Él está en la habitación
4. Ella no vino porque está cansada
5. Mi hermano esperó toda la noche por ti