Common Mistakes Spanish Speakers Make in English (and How to Fix Them)

If your first language is Spanish, you’ve got a real head start in English: shared roots, thousands of similar words, and a familiar alphabet. But that closeness is also a trap. The two languages work differently in small, sneaky ways, and the same handful of mistakes show up again and again — even among advanced speakers.

The good news? Once you can name a mistake, you can fix it. Here are the most common ones, with the why behind each.

1. “I have 30 years”

In Spanish you have an age — tengo treinta años. In English you are an age: “I am 30 years old.” Saying “I have 30 years” is one of the clearest giveaways of a Spanish speaker, and one of the quickest fixes.

The same logic catches a few others: in English you are hungry, cold, afraid and right — not have them. “I am hungry,” never “I have hunger.”

2. Confusing “do” and “make”

Spanish uses hacer for both, so English splitting them into two verbs feels arbitrary. A rough rule: make is for creating or producing something (make a cake, make a decision, make a mistake), while do is for actions and tasks in general (do your homework, do the dishes, do business). It won’t cover every case, but it’ll get you most of the way.

3. The missing subject

Spanish lets you drop the subject because the verb ending already tells you who’s acting — voy clearly means I go. English almost never allows this. You can’t say “Is raining” or “Are very kind” — English needs “It is raining” and “They are very kind.” That little it and they feel redundant in Spanish, but in English they’re compulsory.

4. Adjective order and placement

In Spanish, adjectives usually follow the noun — la casa roja. In English they come before it — the red house, not the house red. Most learners adjust to this quickly, but it slips out under pressure, so it’s worth a conscious check.

5. “Actually” doesn’t mean actualmente

These false friends catch everyone. Actualmente means currently, not actually. A few of the worst offenders:

• Actually = in fact (not currently — that’s actualmente).
• Embarrassed is not embarazada, which means pregnant. This one causes memorable mix-ups.
• Assist means to help, not to attend — asistir a a meeting is to attend it.
• Sensible in English means level-headed; the Spanish sensible means sensitive.

6. Pronunciation: the sounds English adds

Spanish has five clean vowel sounds; English has around twelve, plus consonant clusters Spanish avoids. Two patterns stand out. First, the English b and v are distinct — in Spanish they sound nearly identical, so very and berry can blur. Second, Spanish words don’t begin with s + consonant, so speak and Spain tend to grow an extra vowel: “espeak,” “Espain.” Awareness is half the battle; the rest is practice.

7. Prepositions that refuse to translate

Prepositions rarely map one-to-one between languages, and English is full of fixed pairings you simply have to learn: you’re interested in something, you depend on someone, you arrive at a place. Depend of and interested on are direct translations from Spanish that don’t land in English. There’s no rule that covers them all — exposure and practice are what make them stick.

How to actually fix these

Reading a list helps you spot mistakes, but speaking is what rewires the habit. The fastest progress comes from talking with someone who catches these patterns in real time and nudges you — “are, not have” — until the correct version becomes automatic. That’s exactly the kind of focused feedback a tutor gives, and it’s far quicker than hoping you’ll notice on your own.

None of these mistakes make you hard to understand — but ironing them out is what takes your English from good to genuinely fluent.

Want to smooth out the habits holding your English back? Find a tutor who knows exactly what Spanish speakers need and book a lesson today.