Correct Your Spanish Blunders: How to Avoid 99% of the Common Mistakes Made by Learners of Spanish

370 Pages·2004·1.29 MB·English

by  Jean Yates

CORRECT
your
SPANISH
BLUNDERS
99%
How to Avoid of the Common
Mistakes Made by Learners of Spanish
JEAN YATES
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DOI: 10.1036/0071460144
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CONTENTS
Introduction v
PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING 1
Pronunciation 3
Spelling 10
Capitalization 17
Punctuation 20
GRAMMAR 23
Nouns 25
Numbers 38
Noun Determiners 53
Descriptive Adjectives 80
Verbs
The Infinitive 96
Types of Verbs 102
The Indicative Mood 110
The Present Tense 111
The Preterite Perfect Tense 122
The Preterite Tense 127
The Imperfect Tense 132
The Pluperfect Tense 140
The Future Tense 143
The Future Perfect Tense 149
The Conditional 151
The Simple Conditional 152
The Conditional Perfect 155
iii
iv CONTENTS
The Subjunctive Mood 158
The Present Subjunctive 161
The Preterite Perfect Subjunctive 177
The Imperfect Subjunctive 184
The Pluperfect Subjunctive 197
Reported Speech 200
Subjects, Objects, and Their Pronouns 204
Adverbs and Prepositions with Adverbial Functions 231
Other Prepositions 257
Conjunctions 290
VOCABULARY 297
Words 299
Constructions 323
Catch the Blunders 331
Answer Key 337
Index of Spanish Words and Expressions 351
Subject Index 356
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this book is to identify the most common trouble spots
for English speakers learning Spanish, to provide a basis for under-
standing why these trouble spots cause difficulties, and to offer guid-
ance and practice for avoiding potential errors.
Many errors commonly made by speakers and learners of a second
language are caused by transferring the patterns of the native language
to the language being learned.This happens in all aspects of language,
from pronunciation to word formation to sentence structure.Following
are some examples of problems English speakers have when learning
Spanish.
1. There are only a few sounds in Spanish that do not exist in English.
Many sounds common to both languages,however,are represented
by different letters in each language. For example, in certain situ-
ations the letter d in Spanish is pronounced like the “th”in the En-
glish “brother.” Also, English and Spanish have different pronun-
ciation patterns for vowels, which can cause English speakers to
mispronounce many words.
2. Although there are some clues as to whether Spanish nouns are mas-
culine or feminine, many nouns seem to defy regular patterns. En-
glish speakers must learn the gender of Spanish nouns and be care-
ful to use the correct corresponding articles and pronouns.
3. Although many Spanish words have cognates in English, there are
also many false cognates,aptly called falsos amigosin Spanish.One
example is sensible,an adjective in both languages; it means “level-
headed”in English but “sensitive”in Spanish.
4. In many cases, one word in English has two or more noninter-
changeable translations in Spanish.One example of this is the verb
“be”in English,whose correspondents in Spanish are ser and estar,
as well as other verbs used idiomatically.Another is the English “for,”
which has several Spanish translations, among them, por and para.
5. Particles, such as prepositions and conjunctions, have no one-for-
one equivalents in both languages.For example,the Spanish prepo-
sition en can be translated into English as “in,”“on,”“at,”“of,” and
v
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vi INTRODUCTION
“about.” Likewise, the translation of English “on Sunday” is el do-
mingo,“the Sunday.”
6. A more insidious type of falso amigo is encountered in the use of
verb tenses.The present tense,for example,can be used identically
in both languages for certain functions. It is, therefore, often as-
sumed that the function of the present tense will be the same in all
instances. Actually, the Spanish present tense can also be used for
functions that are expressed in English in the present progressive,
present perfect,past,and future tenses.Every verb tense,in fact,rep-
resents a potential trouble spot for English-speaking learners of
Spanish.
7. Information can be expressed one way in one language,and in a dif-
ferent way in the other.In English,for example,one says “I am hun-
gry,” while in Spanish one says the equivalent of “I have hunger.”
Likewise, the English “I like ice cream” is stated in Spanish as “Ice
cream appeals to me.”Expressions of this type present more compli-
cations when their individual words are modified;for example,“I am
veryhungry”is the equivalent of “I have a lot ofhunger.”Again,the
pitfall is transferring the English pattern to the Spanish.
In this book you will find the reasons behind these and many other
common but lesser-known “blunders” through explanations of how
regular patterns of Spanish differ from those of English. You will be
made aware of potential trouble spots and shown how to break bad
habits and correct your own mistakes. Several examples are given for
each topic,followed by exercises that test your understanding and help
you avoid the pitfalls encountered when translating word for word,
structure for structure,from English.
Because individual words of a language are used in connection with
other words, you will find that most topics are mentioned in more
than one place. This repetition allows for cross-referencing and pro-
vides multiple examples of the most problematic structures. You will
find that many of the lists are structured for sense and meaning; ad-
verbs are listed in order of nunca “never” to siempre “always,” for ex-
ample.Nouns are grouped by their endings,and verbs are grouped by
usage.In addition,the comprehensive,detailed index at the back of the
book serves as a guide to finding all the references to each topic.At the
back of the book you will also find the answers to all the exercises.It is
hoped that the materials presented here will help you improve your
proficiency in Spanish and avoid the most common blunders.
Suggestions for Using This Book
The book is divided into three parts:Pronunciation and Spelling,Gram-
mar, and Vocabulary. The largest section is Grammar, which identifies
INTRODUCTION vii
the various types of words according to traditional terminology.If you
are unfamiliar with these terms, or if you find them more confusing
than helpful,follow these suggestions:
] First look for the “Avoid the Blunder”headings in each section.Read
the examples,then read the related explanation.
] Use the Index,rather than the Contents,to find what you are looking
for.
] Check all the cross-references to a topic you are interested in to find
more examples.
] Do the exercises on a separate sheet of paper, then check your an-
swers in the Answer Key at the back of the book.If you have made
mistakes,reread the pertinent sections,then do the exercises again.
Throughout the book, all blunders are printed in red type and
marked by a stylized ✗. These are words, phrases, and sentences that
are unacceptable.
The guidelines here are based on current standard usage in all coun-
tries where Spanish is the native language.However,be aware that lan-
guage is constantly changing, that there are many different forms of
expression, and that certain items identified here as “blunders” are
accepted as standard usage in some areas. The biggest blunder of all
would be to correct a native speaker,or to in any way imply that he or
she doesn’t speak “correct” Spanish. Recognizing the differences you
encounter in different places will enrich your Spanish and enable you
to identify regional variations.The best way to learn a language is to lis-
ten to its native speakers and practice by communicating with them.
Acknowledgments
The author is indebted to her many teachers, colleagues, friends, and
students,from whom she continues to learn.She especially appreciates
the advice of Ligia Ochoa Sierra,and the help of Jeannette Walters Már-
quez and Luz Noemi Curet, who read the entire manuscript and pro-
vided many insightful comments and suggestions.
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