Common mistakes · Romance background

Mistakes Spanish speakers make

Spanish allows double negatives, drops subject pronouns, and uses "to have" for age. Spanish speakers often translate too literally into English.

Pick one to practise

Double negatives

✗I don't know nothing.

✓I don't know anything.

Spanish requires double negatives ("No sé nada"). English uses only one negative word — either the verb is negative (don't) OR the object is (nothing), not both.

Dropping subject pronouns

✗Is raining.

✓It is raining.

Spanish drops subjects because the verb ending tells you who is doing the action. English nearly always needs an explicit subject — including "it" for weather and time.

"Have years" vs "be years old"

✗I have 25 years.

✓I am 25 years old.

Spanish uses "tengo 25 años" (I have 25 years). English uses "to be" + "years old" for age.

Question without "do / does"

✗You speak English?

✓Do you speak English?

Spanish forms questions by intonation alone. English needs "do/does/did" + base verb in most questions.