COMMON MISTAKE: TRANSLATING ‘OPERAR’ (TO OPERATE ON):

Unfortunately, in our Skype English classes online students have issues translating the verb ‘operar’. We don’t simply translate the word ‘operar’ just by the word ‘operate’ when we’re talking about getting some part of your body fixed. We have to add the preposition ‘on’. Thus the verb in English is ‘to operate on’. So we wouldn’t say ‘I will have my knee operated tomorrow’ but we would use the following phrase: ‘I will have my knee operated on tomorrow’.

In addition, and perhaps more simply, we have the option of not using the phrasal verb ‘to operate on’ and instead we can use ‘to have’. Thus: ‘I will have a knee operation tomorrow’.


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TRANSLATING THE SPANISH VERB 'BAJAR':

Many students in our online English classes of lower levels translate 'bajar' with the adjective, noun or adverb 'low'. The verb is actually 'to lower'. So we'd say 'we lower prices in the sales' NOT 'we low prices in the sales'. We can also apply other verbs such as 'decrease', 'move down', 'drop' or 'reduce'.

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COMMON VOCABULARY - 'TO TURN AN AGE':

In English when we have birthdays we use the verb 'to turn + age’. For example, one can say 'I will turn 39 next week' or 'she turned 16 a fortnight ago' when one becomes older. Hoping that helps. Have a great day.

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TRANSLATING 'AMANECER' AND 'ANOCHECER':

In our Skype English classes (online) Spanish students often forget the words to translate 'anochecer' and 'amanecer' into English. We can use 'dawn', 'daybreak' or 'sunrise' for 'amanecer' whilst 'dusk' or 'sundown' or 'sunset' or 'nightfall' are used for 'anochecer'. 'Twilight' is the soft glowing light when the sun is still below the horizon. Hope that helps.
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‘CARRERA’ IS A FALSE FRIEND:

In our Skype English online classes Spanish students often wrongly translate ‘carrera’. One of the meanings of ‘carrera’ in Spanish refers to studies which are done at university whilst this is not the case in English. ‘Career’ refers to your professional working life which is normally carried out after university, school or college is finished. It does not refer to studies done at university in English. When you study at university this is often called in the UK a ‘degree course’ a ‘degree’ or simply your ‘studies’. Happy New Year!
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SOME VERBS REQUIRE AN OBJECT IN ENGLISH:

Some verbs must have an object in English. These are called transitive verbs. The object is the person or thing affected by the action described by the verb. For example, many people translate the sentence ‘me gusta’ with ‘I like’. This is really bad. What you must employ is an object as ‘like’ is a transitive verb. For example, you could say ‘I like it/her/the film/the sunny day’ etc. So please avoid just saying ‘I like’ or ‘I like a lot’ or ‘I don’t like’. Similarly, we must not say ‘the film, I like’. The word order is wrong so we must say ‘I like the spray’ (subject, verb, object).

Common transitive verbs that students have issues with include:

To like
To miss (extrañar)
To enjoy
To bring
To give
To send
To leave
To make
To owe
To tell
To show
To use

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COMMON PHRASAL VERB: 'TO BE PUT OFF'

This means that something or someone discontinued your desire for something or someone.

Examples: 1. The hair in my soup put me off wanting to eat the soup. 2. The girl's strange habits put me off her. 3. They no longer want to vote for that candidate. His speech put the voters off.

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