http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aPresent+simple+tag%3aGenders&tag=Present+simple,Genders&orTags=0Search results for 'tag:Present simple tag:Genders' matching tags 'Present simple' and 'Genders'en-USCSMOD (Build: 3232.18851)http://www.englishforums.com/English/SpanishGermanStudentJapaneseStudent/kxvd/post.htm#53247Tue, 02 Nov 2004 15:45:04 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:53247NovaleeHello meg2589 and all, <br />I almost exclusively teach Spanish students, with the exception of some American students who are learning Spanish but this is a different story. I can tell you the most common mistakes and difficulties that we, Spanish people, find when studying English. <br />The first problem that you mention is the 'false cognates' which we call 'false friends': they are similarly written words or expressions that have different meanings in both languages. The funniest example I can give is 'to be constipated', which I'm sure you know the meaning. Well, in Spanish we have 'constipado' which means to have a cold: not at all the same meaning<img src="/emoticons/emotion-5.gif" alt="Wink [;)]" /> <br />The overuse of articles is also a problem. But students learn the rules of when to use it and when not. <br />As for more grammar mistakes: <br />- 'Auxiliary verbs': there is no such thing in Spanish, so a lot of emphasis must be put on the use of them. A useful and popular exercise is to change an affirmative sentence to negative and interrogative. <br />-Third person singular <STRONG>s</STRONG> in the Present Simple: Even with 18-year-old students, we still have this problem. They simply skip it and we, teachers, must put a lot of emphasis in this simple aspect of grammar. <br />-Adjectives: 'they have no plural form'. I repeat this sentence thousands of times and they don't catch it. This doesn't happen in Spanish: adjectives have gender and number, unlike English. The same happens with the order: in Spanish they usually go after the noun, not before it. <br />-Speaking of order...: Word order in a sentence. In Spanish it's much more free, but in English is more fixed. Another point to be taken into account if they want to be understood. Common mistakes are, for example, <EM>Said the teacher that would give we more homework</EM> which should be <EM>The teacher said that he would give us more homework</EM> Do you see what I mean? <br />Well, the list would go on and on, but I'm giving you some examples. I don't know if you were looking for this. If I'm right, feel free to ask for more, and I'll post more examples of common mistakes Spanish students make. <br /> <br />See you.