Por ende and por lo tanto are formal ways to say por eso in Spanish. They could be translated as therefore, consequently, thus, or as a consequence.

The Spanish language is one of the most strictest languages when it comes to orthography. Orthography in Spanish is extremely important not only to communicate what you mean but also to show you are an educated person. At times, natives, most commonly youths, make the gross mistake of thinking that they will seem "cool" by writing in their own style by changing the correct letters to ones less used or making them shorter like Kreo q tienes razon when the correct one is Creo que tienes razón/I think you’re right or Estare contigo x 100pre meaning Estaré contigo por siempre/I will be with you forever.

What are the consequences of writing like this? There are terrible consequences such as when they want to write correctly, they are not going to know how to do it because they have already developed poor writing habits. For example; someone who writes 100pre could write ciempre because "100" in Spanish is cien, but the correct word is siempre, which sounds absolutely the same. Another consequence is that they will be showed themselves to be a person with a low educational level. Perhaps, when they are young it is not a problem, but it will be when they grow up.

What about accents? Most foreigners could think "I have seen Spanish speakers who don’t use accents.Why do I have to do it too?" Let me answer you: There are two principal reasons why natives don’t use accents. One reason is because they are lazy, and the other reason could be that they are not sure where to put them and finish up not using them. None of these reasons mean accents are not needed. They are needed and essential because you could change the meaning of a sentence like this:

◎Mi papá es alto. (My father is tall.)
◎Mi papa es alto. (My pope is tall.)

◎Estudio inglés. (I study English.)
◎Estudio ingles. (I study groins.)

◎Fumo todo el día. (I smoke all day long.)
◎Fumó todo el día. (He/She smoked all day long.)

This is my list of the top five most common mistakes made by English native speakers when learning Spanish.

⑤ Who are you talking to? 
Wrong: ¿Quién estás hablando a? 

In Spanish, we can’t use a preposition at the end of a sentence. So, ¿Quién estás hablando a? should be ¿A quién le estás hablando? I know it is hard to get used to this change, but with practice, you will surely be able to do it!

☆Who do you work for?
☑¿Para quién trabajas?
☒¿Quién trabajas para?

☆When do you need it for?
☑¿Para cuándo lo necesitas?
☒¿Cuándo lo necesitas para?

☆Where did you get this from?
☑¿De dónde sacaste eso?
☒¿Dónde sacaste eso de?
☒¿Desde dónde sacaste eso?
☒¿Dónde sacaste eso desde?

④ To look for  
Wrong: Mirar para

In the number 4, we have to look for. English native speakers use it a lot! However, because to look also means mirar in Spanish, it is usually confused. To look for is buscar in Spanish, and to look at is the real mirar.

☆I’m looking for my glasses.
☑Estoy buscando mis gafas.
☒Estoy mirando para mis gafas.

☆I’m looking for inner peace.
☑Estoy buscando la paz interior.
☒Estoy mirando para paz interior.

☆Look at my eyes when I’m talking to you!
☑¡Mírame a los ojos cuando te estoy hablando!
☒¡Mírame a mis ojos cuando estoy hablando a ti!

③ I’m embarrassed 
 Wrong: Estoy embarazado/a.

I have came across this mistake many times. Embarazada means pregnant in Spanish. So, it is quite weird to listen to a man saying estoy embarazado. You can use both avergonzado or apenado when meaning embarrassed, and penoso/a, or vergonzoso/a, when meaning embarrassing. Plase be careful because if you are in a embarrassing situation and you say "estoy embarazada," it will be even more embarrassing.

☆What an embarrassing situation!
☑¡Qué situación tan vergonzosa!
☒¡Qué situación tan embarazada!
☒¡Qué situación embarazada!

☆I’m truly sorry for this. I’m embarrassed.
☑Lo siento muchísimo. Estoy apenado/avergonzado.
☒Lo siento muchísimo. Estoy embarazado/a.

☆I’m pregnant! My baby will be born in approximately eight months.
☑¡Estoy embarazada! Mi bebé nacerá en ocho meses aproximadamente.
☒¡Estoy avergonzada/apenada! Mi bebé nacerá en ocho meses aproximadamente.

② I’m excited
Wrong: Estoy excitado/a

This is similar to the previous one. The word excited is confused with excitado. The Spanish word excitado means to be turned on or horny. Not a good word to confuse, is it? The correct expression is estar emocionado.

☆I’m excited about my vacation!
☑¡Estoy emocionado por mis vacaciones!
☒¡Estoy excitado por mis vacaciones!
☒¡Estoy emocionado para mis vacaciones!

☆Are you excited about the trip?
☑¿Estás emocionado por el viaje?
☒¿Estás excitado por el viaje?

☆This is exciting!
☑¡Esto es emocionante!
☒¡Esto es excitante!

① To move to a new house
Wrong: Moverse a una nueva casa

Finally, the last mistake that, in my opinion, is the most often confused. Moverse means to move oneself to a near pleace, for example, from your computer until your kitchen. And mudarse is to change one’s house or living place, that is, the correct word for to move to a new house.

☆I will move next month.
☑Me mudaré el próximo mes.
☒Me moveré el próximo mes.

☆Get a move on, man!
☑¡Muévete, hombre!
☒¡Múdate, hombre! (change the place you are living in)

☆I will move to Japan next year.
☑Me mudaré a Japón el año que viene.
☒Me moveré a Japón el año que viene.

Thank you for having read this far. I hope this entry serves as a good reference.

Llevar is a verb in Spanish with different uses. The basic meanings of this verb are "to carry" and "to bring". Let’s see some basic examples to review.

☑ Could you carry this book to Juan?
☑ ¿Podrías llevarle este libro a Juan?

☑ I was asked to bring some wine to the party.
☑ Me pidieron llevar vino a la fiesta.

Now that we have reviewed the basic meaning, let’s learn three different usages that may confuse students.

➊　Llevar + time + verb in gerund

In this case, llevar has nothing to do with bring nor carry. This construction is used to specify how long you have been doing something. Therefore, you must always specify a period of time.

☑ Llevo cinco años estudiando español.
☑ I have been learning Spanish for five years.

☑ Llevo tres días tratando de resolver este problema.
☑ I have been trying to solve this problem for three days.


You may wonder if the literal translation is not correct. He estado aprendiendo español por cinco años is grammatically correct, but I am sure you will rarely come across this structure because it is too long and many don’t use it.

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➋　Llevar + time + sin + verb

You can also use llevar to say how long someone hasn’t done something. In simpler words, it is the negative usage. In this case, you must use sin to state the verb in question.


☑ Llevo dos días sin dormir.
☑ I haven’t slept in two days.

☑ El presidente lleva una semana sin dar respuesta.
☑ The president hasn’t gave an answer in one week.

You can also use the literal translation; it is also used:

☑ No he dormido en dos días.
☑ I haven’t slept in two days.

☑ El presidente no ha dado respuesta en una semana.
☑ The president hasn’t gave an answer in one week.

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➌　Llevar + number + verb in past perfect / Llevar + verb in past perfect + number

This usage does not answer the how long question, but how many question. To use this structure, we must take into account that we are in a process of doing something, but we may have not finished yet. Examples will make this clear.

☑ Llevo leídos tres libros esta semana.
☑ I have read three books this week.

☑ Llevo 30 exámenes corregidos hasta el momento.
☑ I have corrected 30 exams so far.

You can also use the literal translation in this case:

☑ He leído tres libros esta semana.
☑ I have read three books this week.

☑ He corregido 30 exámenes hasta el momento.
☑ I have corrected 30 exams so far.

I hope this was useful for you. Any question you have, you can write it in the comment box below.

In this entry, we will learn the difference between bien/bueno/mal/malo used with the verbs ser and estar. They have different meanings depending on the subject they are used with.

Choose the one you have trouble with:

-Ser bueno/malo 
-Ser bien/mal  
-Estar bueno/malo 
-Estar bien/mal

☆Ser bueno/malo

Used with actions:

Bueno and malo are adjectives; therefore, they are used to describe something. Also, the verb ser is related to the word "permanent". So, we can say that ser bueno/malo is a "permanent description" or a general idea that may not change easily.

Let’s make it easier with examples:

Ayudar = Action
Es = Verb
Bueno = Adjective

Meaning: Helping is good.

Robar = Action
Es = Verb
Malo = Adjective

Meaning: Stealing is bad.

If you are wondering why they are "permanent descriptions", it is because "helping", as a general idea, is a good thing and it won’t be bad tomorrow all of a sudden. If someone thinks that, as a general idea, helping is bad, they can say ayudar es malo and it would also be ok.

More examples:

-Es bueno que te gusten los perros, pero no que tengas tantos en casa.
-It’s good that you like dogs, but it isn’t if you want to keep too many at home.

-Yo creo que tener dinero es bueno siempre y cuando ayudes a los demás.
- I think having money is good as long as you help others.

Used with people and things:

The explanation to use ser bueno and ser malo towards people is the same as above. You are describing how the personality of someone is.

- Pedro es bueno. (You are describing Pedro as a good person.)

- Las personas que roban son malas. (As a general idea, people who steal, are bad)

You can also use ser bueno/malo to mean "to be good/bad at", as follows:

- Soy bueno nadando.
- I am good at swiming.
- Ese niño es malo leyendo.
- That boy is bad at reading.

Use en with nouns.

- Soy bueno en ajedrez.
- I’m good at chess.
- Soy malo en matemáticas.
- I’m bad at math.

☆Ser bien/mal

I have good news for you, this is very easy because we never say ser bien nor ser mal.

☒ Yo soy bien.
☒ Pelear es mal.
☒ Caminar es bien

☑ Yo soy bueno.
☑ Pelear es malo.
☑ Caminar es bueno.

However, I want to make some clarification.

You may come across with sentences like "soy bien inteligente", or "soy mal jugador" which are correct. But if you look carefully, you might notice that both of them need a complement to work; so, if I take inteligente and jugador out from the sentences, they will make no sense.

- Soy bien. (¿?)
- Soy mal.  (¿?)

This is because bien is working as an adverb (and not as an adjective) meaning "very". On the other hand, soy mal jugador just means soy un jugador malo; malo can be before a noun but the spelling changes, "mal" when it is masculine, and "mala" when it is feminine.

- Él es mal jugador.
- Ella es mala jugadora.
- Él es un jugador malo.
- Ella es una jugadora mala.

(He/she is a bad player.)

 Ther have the exact same meaning, but as a native speaker of Spanish, I prefer to say mal jugador and mala jugadora because it sounds better.

☆Estar bueno/malo

Used with actions:

This expression is not used with actions:

☒ Caminar está bueno.
☒ Gritar está malo.

Used with people:

Estar bueno/a has a totally different meaning from the ones seen above when it is used towards people. This means "to be attractive" with a sexual nuance. Also, it sounds a bit slangy, so it is usually used when you are with closer friends of the same gender.

- ¿Cómo te parece ese chico? Está bueno, ¿no?
- What do you think about that guy. He’s hot, huh? 

- Esa niña me tiene loco. ¡Está muy buena!
- That girl drives me crazy. She’s so hot!



We just seen estar bueno/a, but how about estar malo/a? Does it mean "not attractive"?

Estar malo/a does not mean "not attractive", it just means "to be sick" or "not feel good", but it is colloquial.

- Llamé a Tom, pero me dijo que está malo, creeo que no irá a la fiesta.
- I called Tom but he said he doesn’t feel good, so I think he won’t go to the party.

☆Estar bien/mal

Used with actions:

Fortunaly, estar bien/mal means the same as ser bueno/malo when it is used with actions. Do you remember the first two images of this post?

Used with people:

When you learn basic Spanish, you learn greetings, don’t you? Estar bien/mal is used to answer the "How are you?" question when you meet someone.

¿Cómo estás?
- (Estoy) bien, gracias.

How are you?
- (I’m) fine, thank you.

Used with things:

When you use it towards things, it means, "to (not) be ok" or "(not) correct".

- Tu respuesta está mal.
- Your answer is wrong.

- ¿Está bien?
- Is this ok?

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Many students of languages around the world tend to translate literally each word when they want to convey something in another language. Desear which in English means "to wish" is a tricky verb in Spanish because it only sounds natural in few cases. In order to express "I wish I could/had", we need to know that "desear" is not used here; instead, we use the subjunctive mood and the word ojalá.

Ojalá  is used along with subjunctive because your statement will never be a real fact.

 Let’s see some sentences:

☑ Ojalá pudiera correr más rápido.
☑ I wish I could run faster.

☑ Ojalá (él) pudiera correr más rápido. (If the context is clear, you can omit él)
☑ I wish he could run faster.

☑ Ojalá tuvieras más dinero.
☑ I wish you had more money.

You can also use ojalá when you are regretting something done or not done in the past, but you also need the preterit imperfect of the verb haber as a complement.

☑ Ojalá hubiera besado a esa chica.
☑ I wish I had kissed that girl.

☑ Ojalá no te hubiera conocido.
☑ I wish I hadn’t met you.

☑ Ojalá hubiera podido ver al Papa de cerca.
☑ I wish I could have seen the Pope closer.

If you have any questions, leave a comment in the comment box.