So we reach the final part of our series on ‘Common (& very funny) mistakes when learning Spanish’. In part 1 of our series, we looked at mistakes made when words sound very similar to each other, like coser and cocer. In part 2, we looked at mistakes made due to “false friends”. This is when you expect a word to mean something due to it sounding similar to a word in English, when actually it means something completely different. Our favourite example of this is embarazado, which people assume means embarrassed but actually means to be pregnant.

In part 3, we are going to look at 5 other common and funny mistakes that don’t fall into these two categories. I hope these make you laugh and hopefully, save you from some future embarrassment! If you know of any other comical errors that are commonly made by Spanish learners, please share them with us and leave a comment at the end of this blog.

 

Pechos &  Pechuga

One of the first things you learn when studying a language (apart from numbers and days of the week) is the parts of the body. The Spanish word pechos means chest/breasts in English. However, the word is specific to the human body. When talking about the breasts of other animals, pechos should not be used and this leads to some funny mistakes being made in Spanish supermarkets.

Example: You look at the chicken at the meat counter and state, ‘Quiero dos pechos por favor. Los voy a cocinar esta noche’.

You think you’ve referred to the chicken breasts in front of you but what you’ve actually said is, ‘I’d like two human breasts, I’m cooking those for dinner tonight.’ Making this mistake will almost always results in the butcher laughing out loud at you in the store.

The correct sentence: Quiero dos pechugas de pollo por favor, las voy a cocinar esta noche.

 

¿Como mucho?

Very often when you are learning a language you learn words, pronouns and conjunctives individually and then learn to construct sentences yourself. The errors are made when the Spanish words have more than one meaning or often, a word in English has more than one equivalent in Spanish. The word ‘how’ in Spanish is often translated as como and the word ‘much’ as mucho. This leads to a very common mistake which I made myself when I first moved to Spain.

Example: You see a dress in a shop you like so you hold it up to the shops assistant and you say, ‘Como mucho’.

You think you’ve asked ‘How much?’ but you’ve actually just told the nice shop lady, ‘I eat a lot!’

The correct sentence: ¿Cuánto es?

 

Tomar and Llevar

People often use the verb tomar, which means to take, to describe giving someone a lift or taking someone somewhere in your car. In English you would say, ‘I took them to the station’. Actually, in Spanish you don’t take someone to a place, you give someone a lift to a place, which requires the use of the verb llevar.

Example: You think you’ve done a nice thing and you say to your roommate, ‘Tomé a tu hermana al aeropuerto esta mañana’.

You think you’ve said, I took your sister to the airport this morning, as literally translated, this is what the sentence means. However, you could be suggesting that you had sex with their sister at the airport this morning. Best to stick to llevar.

Correct sentence: Llevé a tu hermana al aeropuerto esta mañana.

 

Los suburbios

This is a good thing to know in order to protect you more than your dignity. The suburbs in English translates as, “a residential area or community outlying a city”. So if someone asked you if you’d like to visit the suburbs with them, you may think this is a lovely idea. You may even go to your local estate agent in Spain and nod profusely when they suggest a nice little place ‘en los suburbios’ but… in Spanish, los suburbios is not the nice, quiet residential area outside the city but actually the grimiest part of the city with the worst reputation!

Example: You walk into your local estate agents in the city and you say, ‘Quiero mudarme a una casa en los suburbios’.

You think you’ve said, I’d like to move to a house in the suburbs. You’ve actually said, ‘I’d like to move to the oldest and dirtiest part of the city please.’

Correct sentence: Quiero mudarme a una casa en las afueras.

 

Tengo calor y estoy caliente

This is one of the most common mistakes that are made and I think it’s probably the funniest. Spain is in the Mediterranean and so it has very hot summers. In Spain, you express one’s temperature with the verb tener (to have) and not with the verb ser (to be).  Another example of when you would do this is with your age. You don’t say, ‘soy 28 años’, you say ‘tengo 28 años’.

Example: You’re on the beach and the sun is blazing, you turn to the Spanish guy on the lounger next to you and you say, ‘No puedo soportalo más, estoy demasiado caliente.’

You think you’ve said, ‘I can’t take it anymore, I’m too hot!’ You’ve actually turned to the nice young man and said, ‘I can’t take it anymore, I’m too horny!’  You may find that you cause the Spanish man to blush as well as laugh.

Correct sentence: No puedo soportalo más, tengo demasiado calor.

 

If you want to improve your Spanish Language skills check out different courses and destinations that Babylon Idiomas offer for Spanish language study!

 

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