English Exercises
🇪🇸

Common Mistakes for Spanish Speakers

Master English by understanding patterns from Spanish (L1) interference

500M+ native speakers • 16 common mistakes • A2-C1 levels

Why Spanish Speakers Make These Mistakes

L1 Interference: Your brain naturally applies Spanish grammar rules to English, causing predictable patterns of errors.

One-to-Many Mappings: Spanish words like "para" (for/to) and "hacer" (make/do) map to multiple English words, creating confusion.

False Friends: Words that look similar but mean different things, like "actualmente" (currently) vs "actually" (in fact).

FOR vs TO

Confusion between 'for' and 'to' with infinitives

medium
very high
✗"I went to the store for buy milk"
✓"I went to the store to buy milk"

MAKE vs DO

Confusion between 'make' and 'do' in collocations

easy
very high
✗"I need to make my homework"
✓"I need to do my homework"

ACTUALLY vs CURRENTLY

False friend confusion with 'actualmente'

medium
high
✗"Actually, I work at Google"
✓"Currently, I work at Google"

Missing DO in Questions

Omitting auxiliary 'do' in questions

easy
very high
✗"Where you live?"
✓"Where do you live?"

Missing Articles (A, AN, THE)

Omitting articles when English requires them

medium
very high
✗"She is teacher"
✓"She is a teacher"

SAY vs TELL

Confusion between 'say' and 'tell' with indirect objects

medium
very high
✗"She said me the truth"
✓"She told me the truth"

IN vs ON vs AT (Time)

Confusion between time prepositions

hard
very high
✗"I was born in July 4th"
✓"I was born on July 4th"

DEPEND ON (not DEPEND OF)

Using wrong preposition with 'depend'

easy
very high
✗"It depends of the situation"
✓"It depends on the situation"

SINCE vs FOR (Duration)

Confusion between 'since' and 'for' with time

medium
high
✗"I've lived here since 5 years"
✓"I've lived here for 5 years"

EXPLAIN TO ME (not EXPLAIN ME)

Missing 'to' with explain and similar verbs

medium
high
✗"Can you explain me this grammar rule?"
✓"Can you explain this grammar rule to me?"

ASSIST vs ATTEND

False friend confusion with 'asistir'

medium
high
✗"I assisted the conference yesterday"
✓"I attended the conference yesterday"

PEOPLE IS/ARE

Using singular verb with plural 'people'

easy
high
✗"The people is waiting outside"
✓"The people are waiting outside"

HAVE vs THERE IS/ARE

Overusing 'have' for existence statements

medium
high
✗"The classroom has 20 students"
✓"There are 20 students in the classroom"

IT'S vs ITS

Confusing contraction and possessive

medium
medium high
✗"Its raining today"
✓"It's raining today"

DOUBT vs HESITATE vs HAVE A QUESTION

Confusion between doubt, hesitate, and having a question

medium
very high
✗"I have a doubt about the homework"
✓"I have a question about the homework"

KNOW vs MEET

Using 'know' instead of 'meet' for first encounters

easy
medium high
✗"I knew my best friend in university"
✓"I met my best friend in university"

💡 Study Tips for Spanish Speakers

Focus Areas:

  • • Practice prepositions daily (for/to, at/in/on)
  • • Master make/do collocations with flashcards
  • • Learn false friends list by heart
  • • Study Present Perfect (no direct Spanish equivalent)

Quick Wins:

  • • Remember: TO + verb, FOR + noun
  • • MAKE = create, DO = perform
  • • Actually ≠ Actualmente
  • • Always use DO in questions

Ready to Practice?

Now that you understand these common mistakes, test your knowledge with interactive exercises.

📚 Based on linguistic research and data from millions of Spanish ESL learners

Missing a common mistake? Let us know!