Spanish 22
Fall 2002
Learning to Write in Spanish
Content and Style Suggestions:
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Give yourself plenty of time to write and rewrite your paper. Good writing (in any
language) takes time.
Organize your thoughts before you begin. Your composition should have a clear
introduction, a central idea, and a conclusion that actually concludes.
Be original and thoughtful in what you write. This makes for a more interesting
paper.
Do not write your paper in English and then translate it into Spanish. This defeats the
purpose of trying to think and then write in Spanish. It also keeps you from
effectively using the grammar and vocabulary you know. Do not try to translate
English slang expressions into Spanish, in particular.
Use the dictionary intelligently. Try to rely on words you know to communicate your
thoughts; when this does not suffice, be careful and precise in your search for the
appropriate Spanish word or phrase. Remember the following things:
 Consider the context which you are creating as you write. Look for the word
which most appropriately fits that context (in other words, don’t simply pick
the first word which appears; it likely won’t be the correct one).
 Take into account the part of speech you need. Are you looking for a noun,
verb, adjective, etc.?
 Take into account the difference between transitive verbs (which can take an
object) and intransitive verbs (which can’t).
 Idiomatic expressions and phrases do not translate directly (either from
Spanish-English or English-Spanish). You may need to rephrase what you’re
trying to say in order to express yourself clearly.
 Cross-check your word selection in both the English-Spanish and SpanishEnglish sections of the dictionary. This will help you learn if you have chosen
well or not.
Work to vary your sentence structure (simple, compound, complex sentences). Also,
beware of sentence fragments (incomplete sentences, usually lacking a verb).
Make sure all accent marks and special characters have been included (see the web
page for info on how to type Spanish characters).
Proofread your paper carefully to look for careless errors. Some of the most frequent
errors are the most easily corrected: gender, number, and agreement of articles,
adjectives and subject/verb. Take the time to make sure everything agrees.
Common Errors (Pitfalls to Avoid):
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Lack of agreement (la concordancia): subject/verb, adjective/noun (gender/number).
Incorrect gender (el género) of nouns and adjectives.
Spelling errors (la ortografía), including accent placement and special characters.
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Inappropriate use of capital letters (la mayúscula).
Inappropriate inclusion or exclusion of definite and indefinite articles.
Punctuation mistakes, including exclusion of ¿ and ¡
Confusion between certain verbs: ser/estar, saber/conocer, darse cuenta de/realizar.
Incorrect use of the past tenses: preterit/imperfect.
Misconjugation of verb forms; problems with stem-changing verbs and irregular
forms.
Use of an incorrect verb form, such as a conjugated verb instead of the past participle
(preparado, comido, abierto, etc.).
Problems with syntax (la sintaxis, word order), such as with adjectives and nouns.
Confusion of subjunctive/indicative.
Problems with the gustar construction.
Errors with negation and negative words.
Ending a phrase with a preposition, which is incorrect in English, but
incomprehensible in Spanish.
Using the ‘s, which doesn’t exist in Spanish.
Omission of ‘que’ to link clauses. While ‘that’ and ‘which’ are often optional in
English, in Spanish ‘que’ (or another conjunction: como, cuando, donde, quien) must
be used to link clauses.
Omission of the personal ‘a.’
Confusion between active and passive situations.
 Active: Los árabes construyeron La Alhambra y el Generalife.
 Passive: La Alhambra y el Generalife fueron construidos por los árabes (to
emphasize árabes) or La Alhambra y el Generalife se construyeron hace
muchos siglos (to de-emphasize the agent of the action).
Inappropriate use of or failure to use “se.”
Problems with objects and object pronouns (indirect, direct, prepositional).
Problems with por/para and other general errors with prepositions.
Errors with pero/sino/sino que.
Following a preposition with a conjugated verb. The only form of the verb which
can follow a preposition is the infinitive.
Incorrect form of the possessives, which in Spanish agree with the thing possessed,
not the possessor.
Confusion between reflexive/non-reflexive verbs.
Inappropriate tense shifts
Failure to make an appropriate transition from one idea to the next (pero, además, sin
embargo, etc.).
Remember:
Attention to detail, which means double-checking your vocabulary
selection and proofreading, is the primary key to success in learning to
improve your Spanish writing skills.