English Quick Fix🔧

16 Steps to Fix your Broken English 

For Spanish Speakers

By Greg Pioli
Online Language Academy
🔧English Quick Fix

Introduction
Do you want a quick way to take your English up a level?

I’m Greg Pioli, the creator and director of Online Language Academy, and I
want to fix your broken English!

Over the past 10+ years I’ve seen hundreds of Spanish speaking students
make the same mistakes as you, most of which are caused by
interference from Castilian.

If you fix these common mistakes, you will instantly become a more
advanced speaker of English.

After extensive research and personal teaching experience, I have put

together this eBook, giving you the most important 16 mistakes that
Spanish speaking students make and how to fix them!

Are you ready? Let’s fix your English!!…

Visit us at www.OnlineLanguageAcademy.com
🔧Quick Fix 1. We are 5 people
❑ Why is this wrong?

We are 5 (or we are 5 people) is a direct translation from Spanish
(somos 5 personas). You must be careful here, because if you say “We
are 5” you are actually saying that you are 5 years old, not that there
are 5 people in your group.

❑ The correction

Instead of “we are”, we have to use the expression “there are … of us”.
This might sound a bit strange, but it is the only way in English to
express number of people that are in your group.

❑ Example phrases

❌ How many are you? 

✅ How many of you are there?



❌ We are 5. 


✅ There are 5 of us.




❌ We were 5 at the meeting yesterday. 


✅ There were 5 of us at the meeting yesterday.


🔧Quick Fix 2. If I will... I will..
❑ Why is this wrong?

I often hear Spanish speakers say things like “If it will rain, I will call a
taxi”. However, we must never use will twice in a sentence.

❑ The correction

For sentences like this, we use the 1st conditional:



[If / When] + [present simple] + [future with ‘will’]

If it rains I will call a taxi



Although the first part of this sentence refers to a possible future, we
must use the present simple tense.

❑ Example phrases

❌ When I will get home, I will call you.

✅ When I get home, I will call you.



❌ If we will play well, we will win. 


✅ If we play well, we will win.




❌ When I will find out, I will tell you. 

✅ When I find out, I will tell you.
🔧Quick Fix 3. I have dream
❑ Why is this wrong?

I have dream (tengo sueño), I have 35 years (tengo 35 años), I have
hungry (tengo hambre), I have thirsty (tengo sed), you have reason
(tienes razón)… These are all terrible direct translations from Spanish.

❑ The correction

For the above expressions, we use the verb to be and not to have. So
the correct expressions are: I am sleepy, I am 35 (or I am 35 years
old), I am hungry, I am thirsty, you are right.

❑ Example phrases

❌ How many years do you have? I have 35 years. 


✅ How old are you? I’m 35.




❌ You have the reason. I’m sorry. 


✅ You are right, I’m sorry.




❌ What time is it? I have dream. 

✅ What time is it? I’m sleepy.

❑ Watch my video on this topic


⏩ Click here to learn more on this topic, including three ‘chunk’s
(groups of words) that you need to learn…
🔧Quick Fix 4. During one week
❑ Why is this wrong?

Although during is very similar to the word durante, we do not use it
before quantities of time. Therefore, sentences such as “I have studied
English during two years” or “I am going to Greece during one week”
are incorrect.

❑ The correction

We use the preposition for + quantity of time (where in Spanish you
would say durante + cantidad de tiempo).

❑ Example phrases

❌ I’ve been waiting for the bus during 10 minutes. 


✅ I’ve been waiting for the bus for 10 minutes.




❌ When I was younger I lived in France during one year. 


✅ When I was younger I lived in France for one year.




❌ I’ve been an English teacher during 15 years. 

✅ I’ve been an English teacher for 15 years.


❑ Watch my video on this topic


⏩ Click here to learn the difference between for and since.
🔧Quick Fix 5. It’s a long time that…
❑ Why is this wrong?

“It’s a long time that I don’t play golf”. Does this sound correct to you? If
it does, it’s probably because it’s the same construction as the Spanish
“Hace mucho que no juego al golf”. This is great Spanglish, but it is not
good English!

❑ The correction

First, change your mentality, and stop thinking in Spanish! We often
just need a completely different construction in English, and this is one
of those times. The construction we need is: 



Present perfect + for / since

E.g. I haven’t played golf for a long time

❑ Example phrases

❌ It’s a long time that I don’t see you. 


✅ I haven’t seen you for a long time.




❌ It’s 3 years that I don’t play the piano. 

✅ I haven’t played the piano for 3 years.



❌ It’s a long time that I don’t speak Italian. 


✅ I haven’t spoken Italian for a long time.


🔧Quick Fix 6. People is…
❑ Why is this wrong?

People is a plural noun in English. If you think it is the same as la gente
you are going to have problems. Instead, think of it as the translation of
personas and your life will be easier!

❑ The correction

As people is a plural noun, we always need to use the 3rd person
plural. People are. People have. People go. Now please repeat these
three expressions a thousand times!

❑ Example phrases

❌ People is friendly here. 


✅ People are friendly here.




❌ English people is usually punctual. 


✅ English people are usually punctual.




❌ Working people has less free time. 

✅ Working people have less free time.



❌ Most people goes abroad in the summer holidays. 


✅ Most people go on abroad in the summer holidays.


🔧Quick Fix 7. My brother and her wife
❑ Why is this wrong?

Spanish speakers often have problems when it comes to gender,
mainly because a) they usually don’t use pronouns (e.g. habla = he
speaks or she speaks) and b) the possessive pronouns are the same
for both sexes (e.g. su casa = his house or her house).

❑ The correction

Simple rule: if the object belongs to a man, use his. If the object
belongs to a woman, use her. So the correct thing to say is my brother
and his wife.

You must pay extra attention with this, as it can be very difficult for
native speakers to follow your story if you mix up he and she.

❑ Example phrases

❌ My wife and his dad are going on holiday. 

✅ My wife and her dad are going on holiday.



❌ I saw your sister today, but he didn’t see me. 


✅ I saw your sister today, but she didn’t see me.




❌ My husband is going to get her hair cut today. 

✅ My husband is going to get his hair cut today.



🔧Quick Fix 8. The strangest thing I've never seen 
❑ Why is this wrong?

Never? If you’ve never seen it, how do you know it’s strange? This
confusion comes from the fact that in Spanish you say …que jamás he
visto, and generally, never is a good translation of jamás. However, it
does not work in this context!

❑ The correction

Instead of never, we need to use ever. Think that the meaning of ever
is similar to “at some point in my life”. This is not a literal translation,
but it it works (e.g. This is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen = This is
the strangest thing I’ve seen in my life).

❑ Example phrases

❌ This is the best pizza I’ve never eaten. 


✅ This is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten.




❌ It was the best holiday I’ve never been on. 

✅ It was the best holiday I’ve ever been on.



❌ She’s the nicest person I’ve never met. 


✅ She’s the nicest person I’ve ever met.


🔧Quick Fix 9. I didn't do nothing 
❑ Why is this wrong?

In Spanish it is OK to use double negatives (e.g. no hice nada), but in
English, we must never use two negatives in a phrase. Just remember,
in English (and mathematics), two negatives make a positive!

❑ The correction

If you already have one negative word (e.g. don’t, didn’t, can’t,
aren’t…), the other word must be anything / anyone / anywhere / any…

❑ Example phrases

❌ I haven’t had nothing to eat all day. 


✅ I haven’t had anything to eat all day.




❌ I don’t know nothing about rugby. 

✅ I don’t know anything about rugby.



❌ I haven’t said nothing to him for 2 years. 


✅ I haven’t said anything to him for 2 years.




❌ I didn’t do nothing special this weekend. 

✅ I didn’t do anything special this weekend.




🔧Quick Fix 10. See you next Wednesday
❑ Why is this wrong?

To make things easier, let’s imagine today is Monday 1st January. If
you say “See you next Wednesday” you are not referring to
Wednesday 3rd January, but rather Wednesday 10th January (i.e.
Wednesday of next week). Similarly, if you say See you next 10th
January, you are referring to the 10th January of next year. Be careful:
you probably don’t want to say the word next when making plans!

❑ The correction

If you plan on seeing someone on Wednesday of the same week, then
simply say, “See you on Wednesday”. If you want to see someone on
10th January of the same year, say “See you on 10th January”.

❑ Example phrases

❌ Let’s meet for your job interview the next 4th June. 

✅ Let’s meet for your job interview on 4th June.



❌ Come to my house next Friday for dinner. 


✅ Come to my house on Friday for dinner.





❑ Watch my video on this topic


⏩ Click here to learn more on this topic

🔧Quick Fix 11. The cat of the dad of Joe
❑ Why is this wrong?

This overuse of the word of is caused by directly translating from
Spanish (el gato del padre de Joe). If you use of once in a sentence
(e.g. the cat of Joe), you sound very foreign. However, if you use it
twice (e.g. the cat of the dad of Joe), it becomes quite difficult for native
speakers to understand what you’re talking about.

❑ The correction

Use the apostrophe to express possession (you might have learnt this
as the “saxon genitive”, though native speakers generally just call it the
apostrophe). So we would say Joe’s dad’s cat (3 simple words) instead
of the cat of the dad of Joe (7 words!). We could go on and on and say,
for example, Joe’s dad’s ex-wife’s son’s friend’s cat’s food.

❑ Example phrases

❌ It’s the birthday of the wife of my friend today. 


✅ It’s my friend’s wife’s birthday today.




❌ This is the favourite song of my mum. 

✅ This is my mum’s favourite song.



❌ The band of my friend is playing a concert tomorrow. 


✅ My friend’s band is playing a concert tomorrow.


🔧Quick Fix 12. Two woman and a men
❑ Why is this wrong?

There are some confusing plurals in English, and they are sometimes
very basic words. Woman, man, child, wife and tooth are all examples
of words with confusing plurals that students often have problems with.
However, the most confusing of these examples is the plural of
woman…

❑ The correction

The correct plurals of the above words are women, men, children,
wives and teeth. Students have the most problems changing woman
to women because, although both words begin wo-, the sound of the o
changes in the plural and sounds more like an i.

❑ Example phrases

❌ All the childs in my class are lovely. 

✅ All the children in my class are lovely.



❌ There are only three womans at my office. 


✅ There are only three women at my office.





❑ Watch my video on this topic


⏩ Click here to hear the pronunciation of woman and women and
other commonly mispronounced words.

🔧Quick Fix 13. Hope or Expect?
❑ What’s the problem?

The problem is that both hope and expect can be translated as esperar
in Spanish. As a result, Spanish speaking students often confuse these
two words.

❑ What’s the difference?


We use both hope and expect for things that we are not sure will
happen, but we use hope for things that we want to happen, and we
use expect for things we think will happen. Let’s look at some
examples…

❑ Example phrases

✅ I hope the weather is nice tomorrow (= I want the weather to be
nice tomorrow)



✅ I hope I get the job (= I want to get the job)



✅ I expect the train to arrive late (= I think that the train will arrive late)



✅ I expect her to attend the wedding (= I think that she will attend the
wedding)


❑ Watch my video on this topic


⏩ Click here to watch my video on this topic.

🔧Quick Fix 14. Tuesday or Thursday?
❑ What’s the problem?

If you pronounce these two words correctly, there shouldn’t be any
confusion. However, if you pronounce them wrong (and most students
do!), they can sound very similar. 



The crazy thing with this Quick Fix is that the days of the week were
probably one of the first things you learnt in English… so there is really
no excuse to mix them up! This applies to both spoken and written
English. There should be no mistakes with this!



Yet I often get emails from students saying “Can I have a class on
“Thuesday"? Seriously, what is that??



And when a student says “Tuesday”, I assure you that they mean
Thursday about 50% of the time.

❑ So… what’s the difference?


The sound Thur- in Thursday is the same sound as in the words Third,
Thirty, and Thermal. 



The sound Tues- in Tuesday sounds exactly the same as the word
choose.



Start getting these words right now! This is a basic mistake that too
many Spanish students make!
🔧Quick Fix 15. Do you like the beef?
❑ Why is this wrong?

In Spanish you have five words for ‘the’ (el, la, los, las, lo). In English
we have just one word (the). It’s fair to say that Spanish speakers have
more love for this definite article than English speakers do! The main
problem is, though, that you use it in places that you shouldn’t…

❑ The correction

When we are talking about something in general, we do not use ‘the’.
When we are talking about something specific, we use the…

❑ Talking about something in general (without ‘the’)


✅ Bananas are yellow.


✅ English is spoken in the USA


✅ I like beef



Talking about something specific (with ‘the’)

✅ The bananas I bought yesterday are still green.


✅ The English spoken in the USA is different to the English spoken in

the UK.

✅ I like the beef they sell at the local butcher’s.


❑ Watch my video on this topic


⏩ Click here to learn two more rules about when/when not to use ‘the’.

🔧Quick Fix 16. I want to can speak English

❑ Why is this wrong?


Can is a useful word, but we can only use it in the present simple and
past simple tenses. It is not possible to use it in the infinitive (to can),
the future (I will can) or other tenses.

❑ The correction

If we want to use it as the infinitive, we must use be able to. This has
exactly the same meaning as can but we can use it in every tense by
simply conjugating the verb to be (e.g. I will be able to, I would like to
able to, I would have been able to…)

❑ Example phrases

❌ I would love to can speak English perfectly. 

✅ I would love to be able to speak English perfectly.



❌ I’m not sure if I will can go to the party. 


✅ I’m not sure if I will be able to go to the party.




❌ I’ve never could run fast. 


✅ I’ve never been able to run fast.


❑ Watch my pronunciation video


⏩ Click here to learn how native speakers pronounce can and can’t.

🔧BONUS Quick Fix. Pronunciation
❑ What’s the problem?

I see students pronouncing the same common words wrong every
single day. If you spend some time fixing your pronunciation of these
common words, you will rapidly give a better impression with your
spoken English.

❑ The videos

Here are some of my most popular YouTube pronunciation videos that
you need to watch if you want to fix your spoken English!

⏩ Click here to learn the correct

pronunciation of busy, chocolate
and other common words!


⏩ Click here to learn pronunciation

mistakes typically made by Spanish
Speakers.

⏩ Click here to learn the how to

pronounce many common words
with silent letters (and see where I
live).
🔧More about the author

Hi, I’m Greg!

• My name is Greg Pioli and I’m the
creator of OLA Online Language
Academy.

• My goal is to help you reach

fluency in spoken English in an
effective and fun way!


• I want to build a community of

online English learners all around
the world and want YOU to be
part of it…

Click for FREE lessons on YouTube...

Reach fluency in spoken English. Click to learn more...

Click to join the English fun on Facebook...

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