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When learning a new language, everyone makes the

same mistakes. This is the fun part of learning a
language! When you make mistakes you can learn
from them and take your language skills to a whole
new level.
Most articles discuss common mistakes made by
English learners, but none of them discuss how to
actually eliminate those mistakes for good.
Here are the top 5 mistakes Spanish-speakers make in
English, why they happen, and how to get rid of them
forever!

1. Missing subject
This mistake happens because the subject in Spanish
isn’t always necessary. In English, however, it most
definitely is! "Es importante estudiar todos los
días" is correct in Spanish, but when we try to
translate this, many people say, "is important to
study every day." Can you find the mistake? It should
say, “it is important to study every day.” In English,
you must specify the subject. "It" may be a small word,
but it makes a big difference!

The fix
In order to always remember to include the subject,
you have to train your brain and your mouth to get
used to saying "it," or another subject. You can do this
by practicing the most common phrases in English that
require the word "it" before the phrase. Practice saying
these out loud, writing them down, and using them in
conversation. For this particular error,
simply understanding why this error happens and being
aware of it will help you tremendously. Check out this
video, which will help you never forget the subject in
English.
2. Not using the present perfect
This infamous mistake occurs because of differences
in sentence construction used in Spanish. When we’re
talking about how long we have been somewhere in
English, we say, “I have been living in Ecuador for 3
years,” or “I have lived in Ecuador for 3
years.” However, in Spanish, this is not the case! In
Spanish we say, "llevo 3 años en
Ecuador.” Completely different! Any time you want to
talk about how long you have been doing something,
make sure to use the present perfect.

The fix
It is so easy to make this mistake! How do you get rid
of it? Simply practice asking and answering questions
using this format over and over again. You can find
exercises and more information here.
Before you know it you’ll sound like a native!
3. "The" or no "the"?
One of the most difficult aspects of learning English is
the lack of rules. I know, English would be so much
easier if we just stuck to (obeyed) the rules! The
confusion with "the" or no "the" is always problematic
for Spanish speakers because the use of "the"
(el/la/los/las) in Spanish is much more common than in
English. Think about it for a moment. If we were to talk
about children and adults in general using Spanish, we
would say, “los niños son más inocentes que los
adultos.” This is a perfectly correct sentence in
Spanish. However, “the children are more innocent
than the adults” is technically not correct, because we
are talking about children and adults in general.
Therefore, we must say, “children are more innocent
than adults.” "The" is generally only used for specific
things. Learn more about using "the" correctly here.

The fix
The next time you read an article or watch a video,
make sure to notice the use of "the" in context.
Underline the use of "the" and analyze why it is being
used. Learning the most common mistakes with "the"
will also help you stay out of trouble (avoid
errors). Here is a helpful list describing when not to
use "the."
4. Prepositions
Oh, prepositions! Prepositions may be the most
disliked part of the English language for many learners.
When faced with a difficult challenge such as
prepositions, you have two options. Option one is to
become extremely frustrated and decide that English is
crazy and give up. Or, you can accept the fact that
learning a language is a process, not a marathon, and
learn these little monsters one relaxed step at a time.
Prepositions are simply different in English and
Spanish, and learning all of the prepositions by using a
list is the worst thing you can do. Learn a few
prepositions in context every day.

The fix
Do not print out a giant list of 200 prepositions and
start memorizing them. Your brain cannot handle this
amount of rote information, and, not to mention, that’s
super boring! English can be exciting, I promise.
Instead of memorizing a list, start to listen for
prepositions in videos and find them in the articles that
you read. Once you find a prepositional phrase, then
you can look it up and discover different ways to use it.
Focus on only a handful (few) prepositions at a time,
then move on once you think you’ve figured them out.
5.Subject-verb agreement
Finally, we have reached our last and most common
mistake. An example of this mistake would
be, “everyone love that movie.” The correct sentence
is, “everyone loves that movie.” "Everyone" is a
singular noun, even though it includes many people.
We call these collective nouns. A collective noun is a
collection of things taken as a whole that takes the
singular form of the verb. Other examples where we
use the singular form of the verb in English is with the
following collective nouns: anybody, somebody,
anyone, everybody, someone, anything, everything,
something, etc.

The fix
One way to remember if a verb takes the singular or
plural form is: all words that end in –one, -thing and-
body are singular. Another way to remember is: if the
subject is singular, choose the verb ending in "s." Let's
take, “everything has to go!” as an example. Here,
“everything” is singular, so we must choose the verb
with the “s," or, in this case, “has," instead of “have."
You can find out more and practice with this great
PDF.

Whew! That was intense. I recommend reading through

the five mistakes again and see if you can eliminate
them from your vocabulary. Remember, learning a
language is a process that takes time. Focus on the
positive and be consistent.

About the Author:

Nikki has a Masters degree in Education and is TOEFL
certified. She currently lives in Ecuador where she
teaches both Spanish and English. Before moving to
Ecuador, Nikki taught English to adult immigrants in
Phoenix, Arizona. She has taught over 800 teachers
through workshops, tutoring, and individual group
classes. She considers herself an expert on preparing
students for their TOEFL exam, and is very excited
about connecting to English learners from all over the
world on the Verbling platform.