Coffee Break Spanish - 5 common Spanish mistakes that make you sound like a beginner

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

In this episode, Anabel walks you through five common Spanish mistakes that even intermediate and advanced learners keep making. From using "ser" instead of "tener" to confusing "a" and "en" with locations, she explains why these mistakes happen and how to fix them for good.➡️ Click here to watch the video version of this episode.➡️ To receive regular free mini-lessons like this straight to your inbox, visit: https://coffeebreaklanguages.kit.com/newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish. I'm Annabelle, and I'm very excited to bring you five of the errors more common in Spanish. I'm very excited to help you take your Spanish to the next level by bringing you five of the most common mistakes in Spanish. And just as a disclaimer, I am not going to be talking about ser and estar, poor and para or even the subjunctive. The five mistakes I am bringing you are core basic mistakes.

Do you want to know if you cometees these errors? Venga, no us entretengers more and we're going to be the first error. Me duly my head? Dame your man or I go my demeres. These are some of the most common mistakes learners make, and it can be a bit tricky to correct because grammar-wise, the sentences are kind of correct. But they sound strange. Why is that? Because in Spanish, we don't use possessive adjectives, me, tu, su, Nuestro, Wuestro, and Su, with body parts.

This means we must say, me dule la Cabeza or damme the mano. Why is that the case? Because we understand that body parts are part of ourselves. So it sounds redundant, repetitive to use the possessive adjective in Spanish. If I am saying that something hurts to me, it must be my head or my hand or my leg. That's why we will. don't need the possessive adjective. What is interesting is that this situation where the possessive adjective sounds redundant

happens in other contexts where it is understood that the thing named is yours. No te precoops, we'll see this with an example. I do my homework. In Spanish, is, I go los demeres. Saying, I go my demeres, sounds simple. strange because of course I understand that if you are doing any homework you'll be doing your own homework right that's why it sounds repetitive the possessive adjective is not adding new information so it is not required another situation could be go he last jabes for take your

keys I understand that if you're going to take anything it'll be any of your things so I don't use the possessive adjective. Now, what it's interesting is that if I want you to take my keys, then I'll be using the possessive adjective. Go he mis-jabes. Take my keys. This is the case because now you are taking one of my things. The possessive objective is adding information.

It is useful. So here I need to use. it. I'm I love this initial. I think we've been started very.

We're going for the next error. That is to say things like good

days in the night or the class of Spanish we'll know that gender and agreement

are tricky in Spanish but it is also understood that day to day word should be mastered in

international. or advanced levels. Probably you have learned that in Spanish, nouns ending in O are masculine and nouns ending in A are feminine. The thing is that soon enough, you realize that there are exceptions. But not only that,

you also realize that there are nouns ending in a consonant like television or ending in other vowels like Noche, which ends in an E. What happens then? Although there are certain tricks to know the gender of some words, sometimes the only way to know is by exposure. And that's why certain words that you learned early in your language learning

are supposed to be mastered later on. This means you must know it is el dia for day, la mano for hand, the night or la television for the television or TV. Of course, basic vocabulary depends on each individual. So basically, we could say that the more you use a word in your daily conversations, the more confident you should be using it. Stupendo, well, we'll change the theme and now

to talk about of something very common, especially in Angloparlantes. I'm talking about mistakes like Travajo at the university or I'm at the entrada. This type of mistake is very

common especially in English native speakers and it is to use the proposition a in Spanish as if it were at in English when we use it for location. With an example, we'll be more.

In English, we can say, I work at the university using art. Then some learners think, oh, we can use a in Spanish as well. Travajo a la universidad. However, that is not the case. In these type of cases where in English we use art in or on as a location that is not moving, so location that is not moving, we simply use en in Spanish. So I work at the university is Travajo en la Universidad. The main thing happening here is that N is for a location where the thing or person is not moving in any direction.

While A means that the thing or person is moving towards. I'm in la estacion. This means I am at the station or I am in the station. I know they are different in English, but we don't have that distinction in Spanish. So we always use en. Now, if we want to use a, then we need something or someone to move forward. For example, I'm going to the station.

I'm going towards the station. Estupendo? Well, we're pastamous to the error. You record? You know what's what's going to here? Do you know why this is a mistake?

As you may know, we have two ways of saying to remember in Spanish. Recordar something and accordarse de something. In general

they are interchangeable so the tricky part is to remember the grammar involved in them. Recordar something but accordarse de

something. Acordarse is a reflexive verb and it requires the preposition de when saying the thing you remembered. But recordar is not reflexive and does not

need a preposition. This means that if I want to ask you, do you remember, my two ways of asking this is, Recuradas, or te acuerdas? The funny thing is that if you see in the verb recordar with a reflexive pronoun as te recueres, then you are saying or you are asking if you remember yourself. So it is not wrong, but I don't think. think that's what you actually want to ask. So just be careful. Now, the best way to avoid this mistake is by repetition. For example, get the sentence, do you remember, and repeat it again and again and again in Spanish. Recuradas, recuerdas, or te acuadas, te acuadas, te acuadas, this way you'll be familiarized with them and next time you need to say it

or to say, do you remember, then it will come up naturally and you will say it correctly. Genial, well, we'll get to the last error of this video. That can't or not surprise. The next mistake is saying, My Primo is 12 years. Or even things like, Eres Frio?

What is happening here is that we are literally translating from English. My Primo is 12 years is the literal and wrong translation. of my cousin is 12 years old. And maybe you remember that in Spanish, we use Tener when talking about age, back in the time when you were doing A1 level classes. But in my experience, what learners tend to forget is that there are other situations where we use Tener in Spanish

for to be in English. For example, I am cold is Tengo frio. I am hungry is Tengo Ambr and so on. Forgetting this is easy and that's why it is a very common mistake. So just be careful next time and pay attention to

like try to expose yourself to different contexts where that Tener is being used. Perfecto, well, those are five of the errors more commones of the students of Spanish. If you are making any of these mistakes, don't worry, and simply try to pay closer attention next time.

Step by step, you'll be improving your Spanish. Well, that is all for my part. Muchisimazes, like always, and we'll be. You have been listening to a Coffee Break Languages production for the Radiolingua Network. Copyright 2026 Radiolingua Limited. Recording copyright, 2026, Radiolingua Limited. All rights reserved.