Spanish, the second most spoken language in the world, has become a very popular language among Chinese students. In the process of learning Spanish, beginners often make some typical mistakes. Below, Talkiens summarizes the mistakes that 99% of Spanish beginners make in terms of grammar and pronunciation.

1. CHANGES OF GENDER AND PLURAL AND SINGULAR NUMBER
   If the nouns are collective they are always in the singular and the verb that accompanies them is also. People are happy → people: group of people.

   FEMALE AND MALE
   Spanish nouns are divided into feminine and masculine, generally masculine nouns ending in -o and feminine nouns ending in -a, but there are many exceptions, such as mot or y problem a .

   Nouns ending in -ante or -ista are both masculine and feminine, such as el/la estudi ante , el/la dent ista .
   There are also nouns that have both a feminine and a masculine lexical sense, varying their meaning. For example, the capital, the capital; the front, the front…

   Some nouns that start with a- or ha- and have the stress on the first syllable are masculine when used together with a definite article, for example: el hada, la hunger, el agua, la area… to facilitate pronunciation . Look: the water smells like a weapon. Spanish is a fast language and the two a’s are not easily distinguished when pronounced together. The right thing is the water and the gun.

2. VERBS TO BE AND TO BE : generally to be denotes the inherent nature. You are pretty (the person is pretty without the need for makeup or grooming)
   ESTAR : denotes the state of the moment or the temporal characteristic. You look pretty (right now in that particular outfit or hairstyle or makeup).
3. VERB GUSTAR A class of verbs is used in the ablative case, for example, with the verb gustar. I like apples, the subject is apples, not me. The verb gustar follows the lexical inflection of the thing that likes. Words of similar use are: interest, matter, hurt…
4. ONE OTHER Without adding an indefinite article: “another”.
   I have another coat → I have another coat.
5. PRONUNCIATION OF SOME CONSONANTS Chinese learners have difficulty pronouncing some sounds correctly, such as b/p, t/d, c/gor/l. In Spanish there are many words that are completely different from each other and are distinguished by a small consonant, such as “paso” and “vaso”. Therefore, during the phonetic learning stage, it is important to read and practice a lot, and to consciously distinguish words with similar pronunciations.
   Can you differentiate the pronunciation in the following words?
6. SOME PREPOSITIONS The prepositions por and para create a lot of confusion in learning Spanish, as well as the prepositions a and en. There are many rules for the use of these prepositions, but mainly, POR is used for cause and FOR is used for the purpose. EN is used with stative verbs and A with verbs of motion.

Therefore, it is best to have a teacher to guide you in the learning process and a professional course to help you solve your doubts and problems.

Talkiens offers a super cheap course, sign up now and get a free trial lesson! Don’t waste time at home, no need to go out, start your Spanish learning journey at home!