There are numerous errors an English learner of Spanish or vice versa can make when they first attempt to communicate verbally or orally in the other language. This article provides a couple of examples of how the Spanish and English languages vary.

Spanish sometimes uses a completely different verb to that used in English to express certain feelings. For instance, where English would use the verb “to be” plus an adjective to express feeling hunger, thirst, sleepiness and so on, Spanish uses the verb “to have” plus a noun. So, “I am hungry” is “Tengo hambre”, literally, “I have hunger”. “I am thirsty” is then “Tengo sed”, literally, “I have thirst”. Finally, “I am sleepy/tired” is “Tengo sueño”, literally, “I have sleep”. Bear in mind, however, that “sueño” also means a dream and has a separate verb form. For example, “un sueño hecho realidad” translates as “a dream come true”. 

In English, to express that we want or would like someone to do something or for something to be done, we quite simply say “I want/would like you to do…”. Spanish requires a slightly more complicated verb form, namely the subjunctive form of the verb which is a variation of the present tense endings of the relevant verb, although there are some exceptions to irregular verb forms. 

To demonstrate, the above phrase in Spanish would read “I want that you do…”, so, “I want you to speak with him today” will translate as “Quiero que hables con él hoy”. Note the distortion of the verb “hablar”, “to speak”. Normally, as “hablar” is an “-ar” verb, i.e. one that ends in “-ar” equivalent to “to speak” as opposed to I speak, you speak, he speaks, for example, the second person will end in “-as”, “hablas” (you speak). In effect, the verb ends in the ending of an “-er” or “-ir” verb when it takes the subjunctive form.

Hopefully, this enlightens the reader a little on a couple of aspects of the Spanish language compared to English. Should you have any questions on Spanish or wish to expand your vocabulary, feel free to contactTranslations2u directly or see the relevant gig on fiverr. 

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