Six Spanish phrases that sound perfect in English and quietly fail in the exam.

The most stubborn errors are not spelling slips. They are calques: sentences built word by word from English. Every word exists, the grammar looks tidy, and the sentence still does not sound Spanish. Because it is correct on paper, the student never learns it is wrong.

Six to retire today

• “Ganar un trabajo” (to win a job) → conseguir un trabajo.
• “Tirar una fiesta” (to throw a party) → dar or hacer una fiesta.
• “Otra vuelta” (another turn, for “again”) → otra vez.
• “Amusante” (amusing) → divertido or gracioso.
• “Humoroso” (humorous) → humorístico.
• “Possible” → posible. One “s” is enough in Spanish.

Notice the pattern. Each mistake starts from an English idea and reaches for the nearest Spanish-looking word.

Why this costs marks

Examiners read a lot of scripts. Natural phrasing (“dar una fiesta”, “conseguir un trabajo”) signals that the writer thinks in Spanish. Calques signal the opposite, even when the rest of the paragraph is excellent. This is a language-criterion problem, not a content problem.

How to catch them

1. Keep a “sounds Spanish” list. Every time a correction teaches a natural phrase, write the pair: wrong → right.
2. Learn collocations, not words. Not “fiesta”, but “dar una fiesta”. Not “trabajo”, but “conseguir un trabajo”.
3. Read the sentence without translating. If you had to think in English first, check it.

Learn the verb together with its usual partner. Spanish is built from word pairs, not single words.

A question for the person who checks homework

If written work looks suspiciously fluent but the same phrasing disappears in a timed task or in the oral, translation tools may be doing the thinking. Ask your child to write three sentences about their weekend with nothing open but a blank page. What they produce is the true starting point, and a good starting point to build from.

If you want those habits found and replaced with natural Spanish, book an assessment lesson below.