COMMON MISTAKE: 'PROBABLY' CONFUSED WITH 'PROBABLE'

This is often confused with our Spanish EFL students. Many students wrongly say ‘it’s probably that they will score’ (‘es probable que van a marcar’) when it should be ‘it’s probable that they will score’. Remember, ‘probable’ in Spanish should be ‘probable’ in English, not ‘probably’ which is ‘probablemente’ or ‘seguramente’. It should be noted that in the UK ‘likely’ is more used than ‘probable’. Indeed, ‘likely’ is very rarely utilised among Spanish EFL students (students normally find it easier to use ‘probable’ rather than ‘likely’) but it is used a lot more in common conversation among native speakers.

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COMMON MISTAKE: TRANSLATING 'TENER GANAS'

'Tener ganas' is complicated to translate for our Spanish speaking students in our Skype English classes. The important thing is to use phrases or words that demonstrate enthusiasm. For example, 'I want to go on holiday' or 'I wish to see you' or 'he can't wait to finish these exams' or 'We feel like eating chocolate' or 'She is looking forward to the meal' or 'they fancy eating fish and chips'. In summary, the key is to use a phrase portraying enthusiasm. Hope that helps.

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COMMON MISTAKE: MISUSING THE WORD ‘ACHE’

In English we use the word ache (meaning un dolor/doler in Spanish) as a noun with only the following parts of body: ‘tooth’, ‘back’, ‘head’ and ‘stomach/tummy’ and possibly ‘ear’. So we can say ‘I have toothache’ (for some reason ‘toothache’ doesn’t have the indefinite article ‘a’) or ‘she has a stomach ache’. For other parts of the body, you cannot employ the noun ‘ache’. Rather, ‘ache’ is used as a verb. Indeed, you can use ‘ache’ for pretty much all parts of your body. For example: ‘my wrist aches’ or ‘my backside aches’ or ‘my tummy aches’. Remember, ‘an ache’ is a light feeling. ‘A pain’ or employing the verb ‘to hurt’ (which also mean dolor/doler) means can be light or severe. This grammar point is strange. To master it you just need to learn it. Have a great day.

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COMMON ERROR: TRANSLATING 'IR/ESTAR A LA CALLE':

In our Skype English classes many Spanish students make a mistake translating the following sentence: ‘voy a la calle’. As you may realise, this phrase means that you will be outside of your house whether you will be in a park, in a bar, in a plaza, by the side of the road etc. Thus, to say ‘I’m going out to the street’ is incorrect unless you are only going to be actually ‘in the street’. What we would say in most cases to cover everything would be: ‘I’m going outside/out/outdoors’ which covers all situations that are not actually when you are in a building (indoors). Similarly, if we say ‘estoy en la calle’, it would be incorrect to say ‘I am in the street’ unless you are really specifically in a street. We would need to say ‘I am outside or outdoors’ or something similar.

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COMMON ERROR: 'TAN + ADJECTIVO + COMO' IN ENGLISH:

This structure is sometimes problematic for pupils in our English Skype classes. Students often say 'as + adjective + like'. For example, 'Oslo is as big like Helsinki'. This is inaccurate. 'Tan + adjective + como’ is 'as + adjective + as'. Therefore, to correct the inaccurate sentence above we'd say 'Oslo is as big as Helsinki'. This structure works no matter what adjective or nouns you employ. Hope that helps. Have a great day.



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DAYS OF EASTER:

In our Skype English classes online, students often don't know some terms related to Easter. So of course 'Easter' is the name we give for 'Semana Santa' or 'Pâques'. 'Viernes Santo' is called 'good Friday'. 2 days after is the culmination of lent (cuaresma/carême) called 'Easter Sunday' and then 'Easter Monday'. A popular tradition in the UK at Easter is chocolate egg hunting. Happy Easter!



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COMMON ERROR: WRONG POSITION OF 'ALL THE TIME':

A big mistake in our online English classes. 'All the time' phrase should go at the end of a sentence, not after the verb or participle. So it is wrong to say 'we have been all the time sleeping' or 'we are all the time watching TV'. We would need to say 'we have been sleeping all the time' or 'we are watching TV all the time'. Remember: put 'all the time' at the end.

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