Polygon
Spring 2010 Vol. 4, 6-10
COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKERS
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M. Orro1
Department of ESL and Foreign Languages, Miami Dade College, North
Campus, Miami, FL 33167, USA. Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Language errors are quite common in any language, so it shouldn't come as a surprise
that native speakers of Spanish would make mistakes when speaking their language, and
although they generally aren't the same mistakes that are likely to arise in English, they
are probably as common. This paper presents a sample of some of the most common
errors made by native speakers of Spanish. Such mistakes are addressed in the courses
SPN2340 and SPN2341 [Spanish for Native Speakers I and II] at Miami Dade College.
Both courses also satisfy several of the Learning Outcomes of MDC, most notably #1
[Communicate effectively using listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills], and #5
[Demonstrate knowledge of diverse cultures, including global and historical
perspectives].
KEYWORDS
Spanish, lexical variations, common mistakes, spelling, grammar.
1. INTRODUCTION
Unless you're an incessant perfectionist for grammatical details, chances are you could
make dozens of errors each day in the way you speak. And you might not notice until
you're told that a sentence, or a word wrongly said, is enough to make some language
perfectionists grit their teeth.
Since language errors are so common in English, it shouldn't be surprising that
Spanish speakers often make their share of mistakes too when speaking their language.
Mistakes, particularly in grammar, are probably every bit as common in Spanish as they
are in English.
In many instances, there is no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to language,
only differences in how various word usages might be perceived. For example, there are
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lexical variations noted in many standard Spanish words such as ‘piscina’ (swimming
pool), that in Mexico is referred to as ‘alberca’, but in Argentina is ‘pileta’, or ‘frijoles’
(beans) which in Venezuela are called ‘caraotas’, in Puerto Rico ‘habichuelas’, and in
Argentina ‘porotos’, and also ‘campesino’ (country person), which in Cuba is named
‘guajiro’, but in Chile is known as ‘huaso’, and in Puerto Rico ‘jíbaro’. There are also
cases in which one word may have different meanings, depending on the region where it
is used, as is the example of the slang word ‘guagua,’ which in the Caribbean is a bus,
but in the Andes region is a baby, or the verb ‘coger’ (to catch, to get), which in most
parts is used in its proper meaning, but in some other places carries a vulgar connotation.
I could go on and on citing many other similar examples, but that would be the topic for
another article. The point I wanted to bring across in presenting the few examples above
is that, although there is generally a standard lexicon used in all Spanish-speaking
countries, nonstandard varieties should not be dismissed as useless or undesirable
mistakes,
but
rather
as
different
uses
of
the
same
word.
When it comes to grammar though, the situation is quite different because in this case,
it’s not a matter of simply dealing with lexical variety, but with mistakes regarded as
‘unacceptable’ by most educated people.
2. Most Common Errors Made by Spanish Speakers
Following is a list of some of the most common errors that Spanish speakers often
make; several of them are so common, they even have names to refer to them. Although
some speakers, especially in informal contexts, may find these mistakes acceptable, most
grammarians and language purists view them as uneducated or plain wrong. So then,
since there isn't unanimous agreement in all cases about what is to be considered correct
in language usage, some of the examples presented below will be referred to as
“improper” rather than as "incorrect".
Dequeísmo — In some areas, the use of de que in lieu of que has become so common,
that it is on the verge of being considered a regional variant, but in other areas it is
strongly looked down on as being the mark of an inadequate education.

Improper: No creo de que Pedro sea mentiroso.

Proper: No creo que Pedro sea mentiroso. (I don’t believe Pedro is a liar.)
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Loísmo and laísmo — Le is the correct pronoun to use as the indirect object meaning
"to/for him" or " to/for her." However, lo is sometimes used for the male indirect object
pronoun, particularly in some parts of Latin America, and la for the female indirect object
pronoun, especially in certain parts of Spain.

Improper: La envié una carta. Lo escribí.

Proper: Le envié una carta (a ella). Le escribí (a él). (I sent her a letter. I wrote
to him.)
Leísmo — On the other hand, lo is the correct pronoun to use as the direct object
meaning “him.” However, le is sometimes used for the masculine direct object, although
mainly in Spain.

Improper: Le vi ayer.

Proper: Lo vi ayer. (I saw him yesterday)
Quesuismo — Cuyo is often the Spanish equivalent of the adjective "whose," but it is
used infrequently in speech. One quite popular alternative is the use of que su.

Improper: Conocí a una señora que su gato estaba muy enfermo.

Proper: Conocí a una señora cuyo gato estaba muy enfermo. (I met a lady
whose cat was very sick.)
Plural use of existential haber — In the present tense, there is practically no confusion
in the use of haber in a sentence such as "hay una silla" ("there is one chair") and "hay
tres sillas" ("there are three chairs"). In all other tenses, the rule is the same — the
singular conjugated form of haber is used for both singular and plural subjects. However,
in most of Latin America, and also in some parts of Spain, plural forms are often heard
and are sometimes simply considered as a regional variant.

Improper: Habían tres sillas.

Proper: Había tres sillas. (There were three chairs.)
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Misuse of the gerund — The Spanish gerund (the verb form ending in -ando or -iendo,
generally the equivalent of the English verb form ending in "-ing") should generally be
used to refer to another verb, not to nouns as can be done in English. Yet, it appears to be
increasingly common to use gerunds to anchor adjectival phrases.

Improper: No conozco al hombre hablando con Teresa.

Proper: No conozco al hombre que habla con Teresa. (I don't know the man
speaking with Teresa.)
Errors in verb conjugation — There are numerous mistakes made when conjugating
verbs in different tenses. One of the most recurrent gaffes made in this category is the
addition of an the letter ‘s’ to the second person singular form (tú) of verbs in the preterit
tense, for example: hablastes instead of hablaste (you spoke); or the improper usage of
irregular verbs in either the preterit or the subjunctive, such as: conducí instead of
conduje (I drove), and indució instead of indujo (he/she induced), or haiga instead of
haya (there is/there are) and satisfazca instead of satisfaga (satisfy); last, but not least,
the common use nowadays of the non-standard past participle rompido instead of the
standard roto (broken).
Spelling mistakes — Since Spanish is a very phonetic language, it is normal to think that
mistakes in spelling should be unusual. However, while the pronunciation of most words
can almost always be deduced from their spelling (the main exceptions are words of
foreign origin), the reverse isn't always true. Native speakers frequently mix up the
identically pronounced b and v, or y and ll, for example, and occasionally add a silent h
where it doesn't belong or vice versa. It isn't unusual either for native speakers of Spanish
to be confused on the use of orthographic accents, that is, they may mistake aun (even)
with aún (still), el (the) with él (he), mas (but) with más (more), mi (my) with mí (me),
que (that) with qué (what), si (if) with sí (yes), solo (alone) with sólo (only), or tu (your)
with tú (you), which are pronounced identically.
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3. CONCLUSION
SPN2340 and SPN2341, two courses offered at MDC specifically designed for native
speakers of Spanish, provide our considerably large population of bilingual students with
the opportunity, not only to learn about all the common mistakes presented above (and
many more), but to develop and improve their communicative skills [LO#1]. These
courses also expose students to the history, literature, films and current events of the
Hispanic world, thus expanding their cultural horizons and encouraging them to explore
other corners of the world in a different light [LO#5].
REFERENCES
Marqués, Sarah (2005). La lengua que heredamos. Curso de español para bilingües.
(5th Ed.) New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Ortega, Wenceslao (1988). Redacción y composición. Técnicas y prácticas.
Mexico: McGraw-Hill.
Valdés, G., Dvorak, T., & Pagán-Hannum, T. (2008). Composición.
síntesis. (5th Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Proceso y
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