Having good written communication skills is crucial in today’s world. Every day, people write texts to achieve different goals: getting published in a journal, applying to a job, sending emails to bosses, etc. When doing so, it’s important to pay attention to the way we write. Otherwise, our readers might get a bad impression of us.
Considering this, part of being able to write well is having good spelling. This is also important when you learn Spanish to avoid confusing your readers. Sometimes some words, spelled differently, have a completely different meaning.
It goes without saying that there are situations in daily life in which it is not very important to check the spelling of our writing. For example, when we post a comment on social media, we sometimes tend to make a lot of mistakes and use abbreviations. That’s is fine in that context. However, in more formal settings, writers really need to edit their texts and read them twice before presenting the final version
This short article presents some common spelling mistakes that people make when they write in Spanish.
Casar(se) and Cazar
“Casarse” means to get married.
Ex: Loreto se casará pronto (Loreto will get married soon)
“Casar”, in its non reflexive form, is to perform the ceremony of marriage.
Ex: El sacerdote los casó (the priest married them)
“Cazar” is “to hunt”.
Ex: Los leones cazan solos (Lions hunt alone)
Imagine if you wrote “el sacerdoté cazó a mi hermana” (the priest hunted my sister). This is a good example of how misspelling a word can convey a completely different meaning. That’s why when you learn Spanish, make sure what you are writing is actually what you want to say.
I must point out that in Latin America “casar” and “cazar” have the same pronunciation, as Latinos pronounce the “s” and “z” in the same way (“s” sound in both cases). In conversations, we can tell the difference by the context. But when we write, that’s a different story.
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Hecho and Echo
Only an “H” makes the difference here.
“Hecho” is the past particle of the verb “hacer”.
Ex.: Yo no he hecho eso (I haven’t done that)
“Echo” is the conjugation of the first person singular of the verb “echar”.
Ex.: Yo te echo de menos (I miss you)
Hay, Ahí, and ¡Ay!
These three words can be really confusing for native Spanish speakers when they write.
“Hay” comes from the verb “haber” and means “there is/there are”.
Ex.: Hay mucha gente en Santiago (There are a lot of people in Santiago)
“Ahí” is an adverb of place and it indicates where a thing or person is.
Ex: Ahí está mi tía (My aunt is over there)
“¡Ay!” is an interjection that is used to express sudden pain, sadness, or feeling of fear.
Ex: ¡Ay, qué susto! (Ah, that was scary!)
Vaya and Valla
“Vaya” is an interjection which is used to show disappointment or surprise:
Ex: ¡Vaya! No podemos ir al concierto. Las entradas se agotaron (Gosh! We won’t be able to go to concert. It’s sold out).
“Valla” is a type of fence, normally made of wood or wire mesh, in the country side.
Ex: Había una gran valla frente a la finca (there was a big fence in front of the country house)
Haya, Halla and Allá
Haya, has three different uses:
- It is the name of a tree, the European beech (fagus sylvatica) Ex: Hay muchas hayas en el bosque (there are a lot of European beech in the forest)
- It is also the subjunctive form of the verb “haber. Ex: Espero que no haya problemas (I hope there are no problems).
- “Haya” refers to the city of “the Hague” in Europe. Ex: En la Haya se puede visitar el Museo de Escher (you can visit the Escher Museum in the Hague).
”Halla” is the third person singular of the verb “hallar”
Ex: El que busca, halla (The one who seeks, finds)
“Allá” (there)is an adverb of place. It indicates where a person or object is.
Ex:Allá está María (María is there)
Write Better Emails in Spanish
In order to help you improve your writing skills, at Latin ELE we have created the course “Write Business Emails in Spanish”.
You will learn how to structure your messages effectively and also what elements native Spanish speakers pay attention to when writing emails.
