Traducción al español — Translation into Spanish
📝 Traducción al español — Translation into Spanish
| Area | What can go wrong |
|---|---|
| Ser vs estar | "I am tired" = estoy (estar), not soy |
| Gustar structure | "I like music" = me gusta la música (reversed — music is the subject) |
| Tense | "I used to go" = iba (imperfect), not fui (preterite) |
| Gender agreement | "the old city" = la ciudad vieja (feminine noun → feminine adjective) |
| Spanish idioms | "It is hot" = hace calor, NOT es caliente |
| hay | "there is/are" = hay (invariable — never son) |
English and Spanish express the same ideas very differently. These are the translation traps that appear most often in AQA Paper 4 — memorise the Spanish structure, not just the word.
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⚠️ Errores de traducción — Translation Errors
❌ "I am tired" → Soy cansado
✅ Estoy cansado/a
Why: Temporary state = estar. Ser is for permanent characteristics — identity, nationality, profession. Being tired is a condition that changes, so it takes estar. Remember: ser is WHO you are; estar is HOW you are right now.
❌ "I like sports" → Me gusto los deportes
✅ Me gustan los deportes
Why: Gustar reverses the English structure. Los deportes is the subject (plural → gustan). The person who does the liking takes an indirect object pronoun (me/te/le/nos/os/les). Never conjugate gustar to agree with the person.
❌ "It is raining" → Es lloviendo
✅ Está lloviendo (continuous) or Llueve (simple)
Why: Spanish uses estar for the continuous (ongoing) form, NOT ser. Ser is never used for continuous actions. Está lloviendo = it is raining right now (continuous). Llueve = it rains (simple present — also acceptable here).
❌ Si tendría tiempo, estudiaría más
✅ Si tuviera tiempo, estudiaría más
Why: NEVER si + conditional. The rule is: si + imperfect subjunctive (tuviera) → conditional (estudiaría). The conditional appears in the result clause only — never after si.
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