Common mistake using ‘to’ in Spanish

When I talk to my students or my English friends, they sometimes make the following mistake: “Me gusta A jugar al fútbol.”  “Quiero A comer chocolate.” “Es difícil A entender el texto” It is very common to think that...

Verb+ING as gerund or infinitive in Spanish?

When do I need to use “fumar” (to smoke) or “fumando” (smoking)?   This is a common question English speakers usually ask me and, actually, it is confusing for Spanish people too when we try to do the conversion to English. I use a simple...

¿Pretérito perfecto or Pretérito indefinido?

One of the most frequent questions I hear is…when to use Pretérito perfecto compuesto -present perfect or preterite perfect in English- and Pretérito indefinido -past simple or preterite in English-? I know, I know, learning past tense in Spanish is a nightmare!...

Present tense or Preterite perfect?

We sometimes make mistakes to translate sentences literally from our native language to another one. This happens because we don’t use the same grammatical rules in Spanish and English. A common mistake English speakers usually make is that they use pretérito...

Present tense or Progressive tense?

  Present and present progressive tense are very easy and they are the first tenses we learn. However, in specific situations, both Spanish and English speaker make a typical mistake because we try to translate from one language to the other. Let’s take a...