Misconceptions when learning Spanish

[Tomisimo]

What were the some (funny) misconceptions you had when you were learning Spanish? (Or when you were learning English)

I thought azotea was zotea, as in "Me voy a subir a la zotea".

I also thought it was "no le hagas acaso", not "no le hagas caso". Probably because I had already learned the word "acaso".

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Even though I'm a native speaker, I've made quite a few mistakes (only these two come to my mind now):

· I always thought "tela adhesiva" was "tela de siva" (never asked what "siva" was though)

· And only until I was an adult I realized "H. Ayuntamiento" had a dot after the H, so I had always thought the word was "Hayuntamiento" instead of "Honorable Ayuntamiento).

[bobjenkins]

Probablemente la diferencia entre caliente y calor es más cómico, hace tiempo estaba diciendo "estoy caliente"

También al empezar mirar fútbol español siempre oí casillas, y me pregunté porque el comentador hablaba de "post office boxes" durante el juego

[pjt33]

Not sure about funny misconceptions, but I can think of some funny mistakes. I needed receipts for everything in Ecuador for auditing expenses, and I got it into my head that "receipt" is "receta", so I went around asking for recipes in every shop I visited.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

One more that I had corrected also as an adult:

I always thought the expression "dar abasto", was "dar a vasto"... it didn't matter that the wrong one didn't make much sense.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by Tomisimo

What were the some (funny) misconceptions you had when you were learning Spanish? (Or when you were learning English)

I thought azotea was zotea, as in "Me voy a subir a la zotea".

I also thought it was "no le hagas acaso", not "no le hagas caso". Probably because I had already learned the word "acaso".

Here I will give you some example with the use of the word Acaso, caso.

I hope this can help you and well if you know something about theses words well just you can use them as a support.

Acaso tu le diste dinero a Juan.

El caso de la mujer perdida.


Gen fun.

[Sancho Panther]

También al empezar mirar fútbol español siempre oí casillas, y me pregunté porque el comentador hablaba de "post office boxes" durante el juego

I don't understand that - the Spanish for 'post office box no.' is apartado and posting box is buzón.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

I don't understand that - the Spanish for 'post office box no.' is apartado and posting box is buzón.

Casilla postal = apartado postal = P.O. Box

[laepelba]

I just discovered one for me.... I am definitely a person who uses "filler" words when talking (not so much when writing). I say, "ok" and "you know" and "let's see" and so on...

So I often hear Spanish-speakers saying the same thing as a filler word, and I always thought it was "haber", which really has made absolutely NO sense to me whatsoever. Hahaha!! I just realized that it's "a ver", as in "let's see". Exactly what I would say in English. NOW it makes sense! LOL!!!

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I just discovered one for me.... I am definitely a person who uses "filler" words when talking (not so much when writing). I say, "ok" and "you know" and "let's see" and so on...

So I often hear Spanish-speakers saying the same thing as a filler word, and I always thought it was "haber", which really has made absolutely NO sense to me whatsoever. Hahaha!! I just realized that it's "a ver", as in "let's see". Exactly what I would say in English. NOW it makes sense! LOL!!!

right...

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Lou Ann: Now stay alert, for that is confusing also for Spanish speakers. They tend to write "haber" instead of "a ver".

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Lou Ann: Now stay alert, for that is confusing also for Spanish speakers. They tend to write "haber" instead of "a ver".

No, really. Seriously? Ugh! I'll definitely keep an eye out for it!

[Fazor]

Well, my biggest misconception you guys corrected me on immediately (and I'm thankful for it!), and that was that it was typical to say the DO pronoun before each verb.

"Yo estudio español." or "Tu trabajas en la ciudad." etc. I always did think it was redundant, due to the conjugation of the verb telling you who it is referring to. But I also just thought that's how it was.

[seosamh]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I just discovered one for me.... I am definitely a person who uses "filler" words when talking (not so much when writing). I say, "ok" and "you know" and "let's see" and so on...

So I often hear Spanish-speakers saying the same thing as a filler word, and I always thought it was "haber", which really has made absolutely NO sense to me whatsoever. Hahaha!! I just realized that it's "a ver", as in "let's see". Exactly what I would say in English. NOW it makes sense! LOL!!!

hahha, thanks for clearing that up for me, i always wonder why my teacher says haber all the time! i ment to but i've never asked about it yet..

[JPablo]

Bueno, vamos a ver..., todos muy divertidos... Cuando yo era pequeñito... supongo que como en mi avatar... oía a mi madre decir, "vamos a poner el lule en la mesa...'' and I knew "el lule" was "the oilcloth" for the table, ie., the ones used as tablecloths... then I found out it's "el hule"

[Cheshire]

Para mí es muy difícil aprender nuevo vocabulario sin ver primero la palabra escrita. Era el caso con "toalla", preguntaba una y otra vez que era la palabra, y no la pude recordé. Por fin la vi en el supermercado.

¿Supongo que viene de origen árabe?

[JPablo]

Originally Posted by Cheshire

Para mí es muy difícil aprender vocabulario nuevo sin ver primero la palabra escrita. Era el caso con "toalla", preguntaba una y otra vez que era la palabra, y no la pude recordar. [or, no la podía recordar] Por fin la vi en el supermercado.

¿Supongo que es de origen árabe?

Bueno, Moliner dice toalla (del germánico «thwahlja») y DRAE da (Del antiguo, tobaja, y este del germánico *thwahljô).

"Almohada" (pillow) sí que es de orginen árabe, pero aunque rime con "toalla", es el prefijo 'al-' el que indica que una palabra española es seguramente un arabismo, pues "al" es el artículo árabe.

He puesto correcciones en rojo, y sugerencias en azul. (Hope these help, let me know if any question.)

En cualquier caso, ¡nunca tires la toalla!

[Chris]

When my son was very young he thought his shoes were called shoeson. I guess we had told him to get his shoes on so much that one day he asked "Where's my shoeson?"

[JPablo]

That is funny!

I was about to spell it with "a", but I restrained myself, so as to keep the decorum, manners, dignity and proper conduit!

[Chris]

A good while back I was watching a movie that had a motorcycle gang named del fuegos. I thought del fuegos was one word, delfuegos. It took a bit of searching but I finally figured out what it meant and this sort of sparked a fuego to start learning Spanish.

Another one is that I thought "No estoy usando zapatos o calcetines." but was told I should use ni instead of o. Or and Nor can be used in the same way SOMETIMES in English.

Not really anything major but it's cool to me because I'm starting to understand some things and not just going ¿Qué? to everything that is explained to me heh.