{"id":17563,"date":"2025-06-28T10:42:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T08:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/habemos-muchos-que-cometemos-errores-common-errors-that-we-native-speakers-make\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T12:08:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T10:08:36","slug":"habemos-muchos-que-cometemos-errores-common-errors-that-we-native-speakers-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/habemos-muchos-que-cometemos-errores-common-errors-that-we-native-speakers-make\/","title":{"rendered":"Habemos muchos que cometemos errores: common mistakes that we native speakers make."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\tI<\/span>\n\t\t\t

should of done something different\u2026 Ich habe dich nicht angerufen, weil (lange Pause) ich wollte dich nicht st\u00f6ren\u2026 La voiture que j'ai lav\u00e9 \u00e9tait tr\u00e8s sale.Yes, native speakers of all languages make mistakes when speaking our native language. In this article, we'll look at frequent mistakes that we native Spanish speakers make when speaking our own language. Let's go!<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Deque\u00edsmo.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This is the incorrect use of the preposition de<\/em> in constructions that don’t need it. It’s a very frequent mistake among native speakers.<\/p>

Common cases of deque\u00edsmo:<\/strong><\/p>

Subject of the sentence:<\/strong> De<\/em>\u00a0is never used if the subordinate clause acts as the subject. For example, it’s incorrect to say “Me alegra<\/strong> de<\/em> que seas feliz”, the correct form is “Me alegra que seas feliz” (It makes me happy that you are happy). However, if the verb is pronominal (like “alegrarse”), it is correct and necessary to use de<\/em>: “Me alegro<\/strong> de<\/em> que seas feliz” (I’m happy that you are happy).<\/p>

Direct object:<\/strong> It’s incorrect to add de<\/em>\u00a0before a subordinate clause that functions as a direct object, especially with verbs of thought, speech, fear, or perception. For example, you don’t say “Pienso de<\/em> que ganaremos”, but rather “Pienso que ganaremos” (I think that we will win).<\/p>

Attribute in copulative sentences:<\/strong> If the subordinate clause functions as an attribute with the verb “ser” (to be), it shouldn’t carry de<\/em>. For example, it’s incorrect to say “Mi intenci\u00f3n es de<\/em> que participemos”, the correct form is “Mi intenci\u00f3n es que participemos” (My intention is that we participate).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Hab\u00edan muchas personas.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The use of the verb haber<\/em> to indicate the existence of something is an impersonal use of this verb, therefore not conjugated with the grammatical subject. However, this use is the source of a very frequent error that we native Spanish speakers make. Not in the present indicative, but when we use other verb tenses and, specifically, the plural. Let’s see a couple of examples:<\/p>

Hay un problema<\/strong> con la electricidad. (There is a problem with the electricity).<\/p>

Hay problemas<\/strong> con la electricidad. (There are problems with the electricity).<\/p>

Very frequently, when this construction is used in other verb tenses, in the case of the plural the verb is “conjugated”:<\/p>

Hubo un problema<\/strong> con la electricidad. (There was a problem with the electricity).\u00a0<\/p>

Hubieron problemas<\/strong> con la electricidad (instead of hubo problemas<\/strong> con la electricidad). <\/em>(There were problems with the electricity).<\/p>

Hab\u00eda un problema<\/strong> con la electricidad. (There was a problem with the electricity). Hab\u00edan problemas<\/strong> con la electricidad (instead of hab\u00eda problemas<\/strong> con la electricidad<\/em>) (There were problems with the electricity).<\/p>

Habr\u00e1 un problema<\/strong> con la electricidad. (There will be a problem with the electricity). Habr\u00e1n problemas<\/strong> con la electricidad (instead of habr\u00e1 problemas<\/strong> con la electricidad).<\/em> (There will be problems with the electricity).<\/p>

That is, since this construction is an impersonal construction, the verb is not conjugated and its form is the same in singular and plural, regardless of the verb tense we use.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Subir para arriba.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This mistake, quite frequent, is a redundancy one: saying subir<\/em> (to go up) implies that it’s upward, plus it’s impossible to go up downward.<\/p>

Incorrect<\/strong>: Sube para arriba, por favor.<\/p>

Correct<\/strong>: Sube, por favor (Go up, please).<\/p>

Other examples, also frequent, are bajar para abajo<\/em> (to go down downward), salir para afuera<\/em> (to go out outward), and entrar para adentro<\/em> (to go in inward). In all these cases, using the verb alone is sufficient and, moreover, correct.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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M\u00e1s mejor.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This is an expression that can be found frequently in spoken language, but it’s incorrect. Mejor<\/em> (better) already implies comparison, so the use of m\u00e1s<\/em> (more) in this case is incorrect. It’s also frequently seen with peor<\/em> (worse) as m\u00e1s peor<\/em>, and it’s also incorrect.<\/p>

Incorrect example<\/strong>: El libro es m\u00e1s mejor que la pel\u00edcula. Correct example<\/strong>: El libro es mejor que la pel\u00edcula.<\/p>

We’ve reached the end of the article. The mistakes seen here are not the only ones that we native Spanish speakers make, but they are among the most frequent. And beyond the fact that the idea of this blog is not to teach mistakes, I think it’s important to know the most frequent ones. On one hand because they are something we’ll encounter frequently in daily life and, on the other hand, because it’s important to be able to identify them. Thanks for reading!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>Prev<\/span><\/span>Anterior<\/span>\u00bfC\u00f3mo, por qu\u00e9 o para qu\u00e9? Match the questions and answers<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tSiguiente<\/span>Somos animales animados: the pronunciation of ‘s’ in Spanish<\/span><\/span><\/path><\/svg>Next<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Common mistakes that we native Spanish speakers make.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[178,144],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-17563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colloquial-language","category-grammar","tag-down-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17563"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17569,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17563\/revisions\/17569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}