Common problems in Spanish

Common problems in Spanish Grammar

“Ago”: Hace and hacía
“Alone” and “only”: Sólo vs. solo
“And” and “or”: the conjunctions y/e and o/u
“Another”: otro [never *un otro! Aaaaargh!]
Aparecer, parecer, parecerse
“To ask a question”
“To ask for”, “to look at”, “to look for”, “to wait for”
“Because of ... ing”: por + inf.
“To become”: ponerse, hacerse, volverse, convertirse en
“But”: Pero, sino, sino que
“By ... ing”: el gerundio
Capitalization in titles of articles, books, etc.
“Century”
“To continue (to do something)”
Dates (of the year)
Days of the week and “on Monday(s)”
The definite article with articles of clothing and parts of the body
The definite article with titles + last names
“To enter/go in”: entrar en
Esta noche vs. anoche (“tonight” vs. “last night”)
“To fall in love with (someone)” and “to marry (someone)”: enamorarse de and casarse con
Feminine forms of numbers: doscientas ventiuna, etc.
“To find out/learn”: enterarse de vs. aprender
“For” + period of time with an action/state still in progress
Gender-problem words: el problema, clima, mapa, etc.
Hace & hacía: 1) as “ago”; 2) as “for”
“To go out/leave”: salir (and dejar)
“In the morning/afternoon/evening”: De la mañana vs. En/por la manãna
Individuo vs. individual
The “-ing” form of verbs as subjects and objects
“To know”: conocer vs. saber
“To learn/find out”: aprender vs. enterarse de
“To leave/go out”: salir (and dejar)
“ To look at”, “to look for”, “to ask for”, “to wait for”
“To marry (someone)” and “to fall in love with (someone)”: casarse con and enamorarse de
“A million (things)”: un millón de (cosas)
Months of the year
“More than”: más que and más de
“Most of”: la mayor parte de
“To move”: mover(se) and mudarse
“Mr. and Mrs.”
Multiple adverbs ending in -mente
Negation
Numbers
“One thousand”: mil
“Only” and “alone”: Sólo vs. solo
“Or” and “and”: the conjunctions o/u and y/e
“Other/another”: otro
Pedir vs. preguntar
“People”: gente, pueblo, personas
Pero, sino, sino que
Pregunta vs. cuestión
“Question”: Pregunta vs. cuestión
“To realize”: realizar vs. darse cuenta de
“Season”: estación vs. temporada
Seasons of the year
“To sit down/be seated; lie down/be lying down”, etc.
“So much”, “as much” [never *tan mucho!]
Sólo vs. solo
“To spend”: gastar vs. pasar
“To stop (doing something)”
Televisión vs. televisor
Telling time
“Time”: vez vs. tiempo vs. hora
“Tonight” vs. “last night”: esta noche vs. anoche
“To wait for”, “to look at”, “to look for”, “to ask for”

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Pregunta vs. cuestión.
Pregunta is “question” in the sense of one that is asked, e.g.:

Tengo una duda y quiero hacerte una pregunta. I have a doubt and I want to ask you a question.

Cuestión means “question” in the sense of an issue, a matter, or a topic.

Mi sueldo es una cuestión que no te importa. My salary is a matter that doesn't concern you.

Pedir vs. preguntar.
Pedir means “to request” or “to ask for”.

Mi hijo me pidió diez dólares. My son asked me for ten dollars.

Preguntar means “to ask [a question] about”.

Tengo problemas con esto; ¿puedo preguntarte algo? I have problems with this; can I ask you something?

“To ask a question” is hacer una pregunta.

¿Te molesta si te hago una pregunta? Will it bother you if I ask you a question?

Note that this is similar in meaning to preguntar una cosa or preguntar algo:

¿Te molesta si te pregunto algo? Will it bother you if I ask you something?

Multiple adverbs ending in -mente. When two or more adverbs formed with -mente occur in a series, the -mente ending is removed from all but the last one. Note that the feminine form of the adjective remains.

Ella habla lenta, clara y deliberadamente. She speaks slowly, clearly, and deliberately.

Esta noche vs. anoche.
“Tonight” = Esta noche (“tonight”, “this night” or “this evening”).
“Last night” = Anoche.

¿Quieres salir conmigo esta noche? Will you go out with me tonight?
¿Otra vez? Ya salí contigo anoche? Again? I went out with you last night.

“To realize”: realizar vs. darse cuenta de. Darse cuenta de (algo) is the standard way of saying “to realize (something)”, that is, when that mental light bulb suddenly turns on.

¿No te das cuenta de que tengo 20 años? Don't you realize I'm 20 years old?

Realizar is a real Spanish verb, but it means “to accomplish” or “to carry out”:

Realicé todos los proyectos que me dieron. I carried out all projects they gave me.

“More than”: más que and más de. “More than” is normally espressed by más que; más de is used before numbers. However, no ... más que is used to “only”.

Todos ganan más que yo. Everyone earns more than me [or: more than I do].
No ganaste más de 100 dólares ayer? Didn't you earn more than 100 yesterday?
No, no gané más que veinte. No, I only earned $20.

“To know”: conocer vs. saber. The basic meaning of conocer is “to be acquainted with” and thus may be used as “to know” persons or places, or “to be familiar” with [rather than “to know by heart”] something such as a literary work. In the preterit it can be equivalent of the word “met”, that is, “made the acquaintance of”.

Yo no conozco a nadie en este cuarto. I don't know anyone in this room.
Ah, pero conoces a Ana; la conociste anoche. Ah, but you know Ana; you met her last night.
Nadie aquí conoce el poema compuesto por Bécquer. No one here is familiar with the poem comosed by Bécquer.
Claro que conozco a Madrid; nací allí. Of course I know Madrid; I was born there.

Saber means “to know” a fact. It may also be used as “to know how to” when followed by an infinitive.

Yo sé la verdad y sé que tú no la dijiste. I know the truth, and I know that you didn't tell it.
Sabes pronunciar esa palabra? Do you know how to pronounce that word?
No sabemos quién es el hombre sentado allí. We don't know who the fellow seated over there is.

Note that saber and not conocer is used in the third example —with quién— because the issue is knowledge of information, not of acquaintance.

“To enter/go in”: entrar en. Entrar means “to enter” or “to go [in]”; it must be used with a preposition —en or a— when followed by a place.

No quiero entrar en un cuarto tan sucio. I don't want to go in such a dirty room.
¿Quién entró en la tienda? Who entered the store?

“To leave/go out”: salir (and dejar). Salir is the verb most frequently used to mean “to go out of” or “to leave” a physical place. When the place is added, the preposition de must be used. Note that salir may also be used to mean go out with someone as on a date.

I'm going to get out of the house as soon as possible. Voy a salir de la casa lo más pronto posible.
Mi jefe sale de la oficina a las siete. My boss leaves the office at 7:00.
Marta sale con el chico más guapo de la clase. Marta is going out with the best-looking guy in the class.

“By ... -ing”: el gerundio. The gerund (that is, the -ndo form) is used to express the idea of “by (do)-ing (something)”. (The preposition por plus the infinitive is not used in this way because it means “because of ... ing”; see the next section.)

Aprendemos escribiendo. We learn by writing.

“Because of ... -ing” or “for ... -ing” is often translated with por plus the infinitive; note that the past infinitive is frequently used if a previous action is indicated:

Lo queremos por ser tan amable. We love him for being so kind [because of being so kind].
Lo encarcelaron por haber robado a mi hermana. They robbed him for robbing my sister [because of having robbed my sister].

“Ago”: Hace and hacía. If the verb describing the action is in the preterit or imperfect, hace (present tense of hacer) is used. If the action is given using the past perfect tense, hacía (the imperfect) is used:

Vi la película hace un mes. O:
Hace un mes (que) vi la película. I saw the movie a month ago.
Me había quejado hacía un año. I had complained a year earlier.

“For” + period of time with an action/state still in progress. Hace + expression of time is used together with the present tense of a verb to indicate an action which began in past time but is viewed as continuing in the present time:

Hace un mes que busco una casa nueva. I've been looking for a new house for a month.
o:

Busco una casa nueva desde hace un mes.

Note that if the hace clause may be used either before or after the main verb; if used afterwards, desde is inserted before hace.

The same construction, but using the imperfect —hacía + expression of time + a verb in the imperfect— is used to indicate an action which is continuing on in past time but which started at an earlier time.

Hacía dos días que leías esa novela (la última vez que te vi). The last time I saw you, you had been reading that book for two days.
o:

(La última vez que te vi) leías esa novela desde hacía dos días.

Sólo vs. solo. Sólo is an adverb, a synonym for solamente, “only”. Solo (wihout the accent mark) is an adjective which means “alone”.

Sólo queremos vivir en Indiana. We only want to live in Indiana.
Queremos vivir solos en el campo. We want to live alone out in the country.

“One thousand”: mil. “One thousand” or “a thousand” is always mil, NEVER “un mil”. Mil, by the way, is used for all multiples of a thousand: mil, dos mil, tres mil, cuatro mil, cien mil, doscientos mil, etc.

Mi tío rico me regaló mil dólares ayer. My rich uncle gave me one thousand dollars yesterday.

“A million (things)”: un millón de (cosas). When millón or its plural form millones is followed by a noun, it must be linked with de:

Indianapolis tiene un millón de habitantes, pero dos millones de coches, al parecer. Indianapolis has one million inhabitants, but two million cars, apparently.

Feminine forms of numbers: doscientas ventiuna, etc.
Certain cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) in Spanish have feminine forms when used to modify feminine nouns. These include: 1) forms ending with “one”, such as una, veintiuna, treinta y una, ciento una, etc., and 2) the hundreds forms, such as doscientas, trescientas, cuatrocientas, etc.

Tenemos que saber doscientas ventiuna expresiones nuevas para el examen. We have to know two hundred twenty one new expressions for the test.
¿Puedes prestarme quinientas pesetas hasta mañna? Can you loan me five hundred pesetas until tomorrow?

No, you cannot use “unas” for a number like 21, 31, etc. because the number is formed by addition: treinta y una personas = treinta personas y una persona más.

Numbers. For cardinal numbers (one, two, etc.) usually one-word forms are used from zero to 30, after which multiple word forms are used: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince, dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, veinte, veintiuno, veintidós, veintitrés, veinticuatro, veinticinco, veintiséis, veintisiete, veintiocho, veintinueve, treinta, treinta y uno, ... cuarenta, ... cincuenta, ... sesenta, ... setenta, ... ochenta, ... noventa, ... cien, ciento uno, ciento dos ... doscientos ... trescientos ... cuatrocientos ... quinientos ... seiscientos ... setecientos ... ochocientos ... novecientos ... mil ... mil uno ... dos mil ... un millón ... dos millones ... [Note: the accents marks on the written forms of the numbers 16, 22, 23, 26; the spelling of veinte —not *viente—; the omision of “and” after 100 and 1000 —e.g., 101, 1001—; the forms for the fives: 15, 50, 500; the spelling of millón and the use of its plural form.]
The ordinal numbers (“first”, “second”, etc.) are: primero, segundo, tercero, cuarto, quinto, sexto, séptimo, octavo, noveno, décimo. Note that:

These are adjectives, they agree with the noun modified, and usually go before the noun [las primeras palabras].
Primero and tercero have shortend forms that are used before a masculine singular noun [el primer libro, el tercer chico].
After names, Roman numerals are often used, but when spoken or written, the word “the” is not used [Carlos V = Carlos Quinto; Juana II = Juana Segunda].
Forms exist for virtually all whole numbers, but normally cardenal numbers are used instead for numbers higher than ten: the 20th chapter = el capítulo veinte [or on occasion: el capítulo vigésimo].

Days of the week and “On Monday(s)”. The days of the week in Spanish are lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo. Normally they are not capitalized in Spanish.
Most of these names end in -es, in which cases the singular and plural forms are one and the same; for example lunes means both “Monday” and “Mondays”. Therefore, to distinguish between “on Monday” and “on Mondays”, Spanish employes the definite article —el or los— as a marker:

Tengo muchas citas el martes, pero nada el miércoles. I have many appointments on Tuesday, but nothing on Wednesday.
Vamos a servicios religiosos los sábados o los domingos. We go to religious services on Saturdays or on Sundays.

Months of the year (los meses del año): enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, julio, junio, agosto, septiembre [o: setiembre], octubre, noviembre, diciembre. Note that: 1) the months of the year are not capitalized; 2) they are masculine, and are not normally used with articles; 3) there is no u in agosto, and the first vowel in diciembre is an i, not an e.
To say in a month, use en or en el mes de.

Ella va a venir en junio. She is going to come in June.
Hace buen tiempo en el mes de mayo. The weather is nice in May.

Seasons of the year (las estaciones del año):

la primavera spring el verano summer
el otoño fall el invierno winter

The seasons are generally used with the definite article.

En la primavera llueve mucho. It rains a lot in the spring.
El verano es maravilloso. Summer is marvellous.

“Season”: estación vs. temporada. Estación means “season” when dealing with the seasons of the year (la primavera, el verano, el otoño y el invierno). Temporada is used for most other seasons, such as for sports, bullfighting, television, and opera.

Mi estación favorita es la primavera. My favorite season is spring.
Esta temporada de fútbol será fenomenal. This soccer season will be phenomenal.

Dates. To give the date in Spanish, use the definite article el plus a cardinal number (e.g., dos, tres, ... treinta y uno) plus de and the month (plus de and the year). For the first day of the month, use primero, not uno.

Hoy es el primero de enero. Today is January 1.
Es el dos de febrero. It is February 2.
Estamos al 31 de marzo. Today is March 31.

To ask the date, use one of the following:

¿Cuál es la fecha hoy? What's today's date?
¿Qué día es hoy? What day of the month is it?
¿A qué día del mes estamos? What day (date) is it today?

To give the year, use the regular number, normally with mil (1000), as in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight (do not try to use the equivalent of nineteen hundred).

el primero de junio de mil ochocientos cincuenta y tres June 1, 1853
el veintidós de mayo de mil novecientos ochenta y siete May 22, 1987
el treinta de marzo de mil novecientos noventa March 30, 1990
el quince de octubre de dos mil October 15, 2000
el diecisiete de diciembre de dos mil dos December 17, 2002

Telling time: When asking or telling the time in Spanish, the verb ser is used:

Es la una. It is one o'clock (1:00).
Son las doce. It is twelve o'clock (12:00).

Note that the plural form (son) is used for two o'clock through twelve.

Cuarto (quarter, a masculine noun) is typically used instead of 15 minutes, and media (half, an adjective used in the feminine form because it refers to media hora) is ordinarily used instead of 30 minutes. Minutes up to half an hour are added to the hour using y; above that, they are typically subtracted from the hour with menos:

Es la una y cuarto. It is one fifteen (1:15).
Son las diez menos cuarto. It is nine fourty-five (9:45).
Son las tres y media. It is three thirty (3:30).
Son las doce menos diez. It is eleven fifty (11:50).

Other expressions of time [Note that the imperfect tense is normally used for telling time in the past, and that there are alternate expressions for “In the morning/afternoon/evening” when they are not used after the time of day]:

de la mañana a.m., in the morning: Eran las siete de la mañana.
de la tarde p.m., in the afternoon: Era la una de la tarde.
de la noche p.m., at night: Eran las diez y media de la noche.
¿Qué hora es? What time is it?
Es mediodía. It is noon.
Es medianoche. It is midnight.

To indicate the time AT WHICH something occurs, the preposition a is used:

El tren llega a las dos y diez. The train arrives at two ten (2:10).
¿A qué hora viene Juanita? When (at what time) is Juanita coming?

The phrase It is time to is translated: Es hora de plus the infinitive:

Es hora de comer. It's time to eat.

“In the morning/afternoon/evening”: De la mañana/tarde/noche is used after the time of day where we would use A.M. or P.M. En [or: por] la manãna/tarde/noche is used in other contexts, meaning such things as “during the morning” or “at night”.

¿Quién se levanta a las cuatro de la mañana? Who gets up at 4:00 A.M.?
Hago mi tarea por la noche [o: en la noche]. I do my homework at night.

The definite article with articles of clothing and parts of the body. Instead of using the possessive adjective (“my”, “your”, etc.) with articles of clothing or parts of the body, Spanish typically uses the definite article and then makes the person involved the indirect object:

¿Te lavaste bien las manos? Did you wash your hands well?
Me duelen los pies; voy a quitarme los zapatos. My feet hurt; I'm going to take off my shoes.

The definite article with titles + last names. When titles are used with last names of individuals, the definite article is used when talking about the individual, but not when addressing the individual directly. Some titles used in this way are señor, señora, señorita, presidente, general, doctor, and licenciado.

Nos reuniremos con la señorita Juanita Castellanos y su novio el doctor Jorge Ramírez a las ocho. We'll meet with Miss Juanita Castellanos and her fiancé Jorge Ramírez at 8:00.
Pero: ¿Cómo está usted, señorita Castellanos? But: How are you, Miss Castellanos?

The definite article is not so used with titles normally accompanied by just the first name, such as don, doña, san(to), and hermano/a.

Cada día don Ramón reza a San José por una muerte feliz. Every day don Ramón prays to St. Joseph for a happy death.

Gender-problem words. Note the gender of the words given below. Also remember that nouns ending in -ción, -dad, -umbre, -ie, and -sis are typically feminine (la nación, la cualidad, la pesadumbre, la barbarie, la crisis).

el clima climate, weather
el cometa comet; kite
el día day
el problema problem
el programa program
el sistema system
el mapa map
la gente people (singular!)
la parte part
la mano hand
el/la artista artist (and other words ending in -ista likewise can be either masculine or feminine)

“To stop (doing something)” is expressed by using a verb such as dejar (or parar, etc.) plus de plus the infinitive.

Raúl dejó de fumar la semana pasada. Raúl stopped smoking last week.

“To continue (to do something)” or “to keep on (doing something)” is translated using the verb seguir or continuar plus the gerund (-ndo form). Remember that the stem vowel is the weak vowel u in continuar, so in the present tense indicative and subjunctive, an accent mark is needed on all but the nosotros and vosotros forms (continúo, continúas, etc.).

Ella no me hizo caso; siguió cosiendo. Se didn't pay any attention to me; she kept on sewing.
Ojalá que ustedes no continúen perdiendo tiempo. I hope you don't continue to waste time.

“To look at”, “to look for”, “to ask for”, “to wait for”. Several Spanish verbs include in their meaning what appear to be prepositions in English such as “at” or “for”. These include mirar (“to look at”), buscar (“to look for”, “to search for”, or “to look up [something in a reference source]”), pedir (“to ask for” or “to request”) and esperar (“to wait for [someone/something]”).

Mamá miró la cuenta unos minutos sin decir nada. Mom looked at the bill a few minutes without saying anything.
Busqué el anillo una hora entera. I looked for the ring for a whole hour.
Esta mañana pedí un aumento de sueldo. This morning I asked for a pay raise.
Voy a llegar tarde; no me esperes. I'll be late; don't wait for me.

Televisión vs. televisor. Televisor is the TV set, whereas televisión refers to the industry or programming.

¿Por qué pasas tanto tiempo ante el televisor? Why do you spend so much time in front of the TV (set)?
No me gusta la televisión. I don't like TV.

The “-ing” form of verbs as subjects and objects. It is important to distinguish between three special verb forms: 1) the infinitive —e.g., hablar—, which is a verbal noun and can thus serve as the subject or object of a verb or as the object of a preposition, 2) the past participle —e.g., hablado—, which is a verbal adjective and can thus modify a noun, and 3) the gerund or -ndo form —hablando— which is a verbal adverb and which cannot be used as a noun or adjective. Resist the temptation to use gerunds as subjects of verbs or objects of prepositions.

Cantar es lo que le gusta a ella. Singing is what she likes.
Salimos después de ver solo la mitad de la película. We left after seeing only half of the movie.

“Mr. and Mrs. [García]” or “The” + the plural of a family name [the Garcias], or “Mr. and Mrs.” + a family name is usually expressed with the article los plus the last name given in the singular form: los García.

Anoche conocí a los Gómez Last night I met Mr. & Mrs. Gómez [the Gomezes.]

“To marry (someone)” and “to fall in love with (someone)”.
“To marry someone (to get married to someone)” = casarse con alguien. “To marry someone (to perform the wedding ceremony for someone)” = casar a alguien.
“To fall in love with someone” = enamorarse de alguien. “To be in love with someone” = estar enamorado/a de algluien.

Jorge se enamoró de Isabel. Jorge fell in love with Isabel.
Sí, está locamente enamorado de ella. Yes, he's madly in love with her.
Silvia se casó con Juan ayer. Silvia married (got married to) Juan yesterday.
El padre Gómez los casó. Father Gómez married them (performed the wedding ceremony)

“To sit down/be seated; lie down/be lying down”, etc.
When dealing with positions for the human body, be careful to distinguish between the action and the resultant state or position. For example, sentarse expresses the action of sitting down, whereas estar sentado/a describes some as being in a seated position. A partial list of these actions/positions:

ACTION
RESULTANT POSITION

acostarse (to lie down) estar acostado/echado (to be lying down)
arrodillarse (to kneel) estar arrodillado (to be kneeling)
sentarse (to sit down) estar sentado (to be sitting/seated)
levantarse (to get up, stand up) estar de pie (to be standing)

Me senté, pero mientras estaba sentado, no podía menos de seguir moviendo los pies. I sat down, but while I was sitting, I couldn't help but keep moving my feet.

“To move”: mover(se) and mudarse.
Mudarse is used as “to move” in the sense of changing residences. Mover means “to move” as in pushing or pulling somebody or something. Mover must have a direct object; if no other direct object is expressed, the verb must be used reflexively.

Nos mudaremos mañana a nuestra nueva casa. Tomorrow we'll move to our new house.
¡No te mueves! ¡No mueves ni un músculo. Don't move. Don't move even one muscle.

“To become”: ponerse, hacerse, volverse, and convertirse en are some of the expressions that can mean “to become”. Ponerse is used only with adjectives, and expresses a change in a physical or mental state. Hacerse is used with both adjectives and nouns and implies that a personal effort is involved in the change. Volverse is used only with adjectives and implies a complete change. Convertirse en is used with nouns and means to be changed into something.

Ana se puso enojada/triste/cansada. Ana got upset/sad/tired.
Ellos se hicieron ricos; se hicieron abogados. They became rich; they became lawyers.
Don Quijote se volvió loco. Don Quijote went crazy.
Nadie se convirtió en rana. Nobody turned into a frog.

“To spend”: gastar vs. pasar. “To spend” is usually pasar when referring to time, but gastar when referring to money or effort. “To misspend or waste” can be rendered as perder (to spend/waste/lose time) and malgastar (to misspend/waste money or effort).

Pasaron tres días en Taxco, México, donde gastaron todo el dinero que traián consigo. They spent three days in Taxco, México, where they spent all the money they had with them.
Malgasté doscientos dólares y perdí un par de días tratando de reparar mi coche. I wasted $200 and a couple of days trying to get my car fixed.

“People”: gente, pueblo, personas. Gente refers to people in the abstract and is a singular noun. Pueblo (besides meaning “town” “village”) refers the group of people that makes up a country or geographical area. Personas (“persons”) or individuos [not individuales] can be used to a group of individual or specific persons.

La gente hoy en día no sabe mucho de la geografía. People nowadays don't know much about geography.
Los romances son un tesoro del pueblo español. Romances [ballads] are a treasure of the Spanish people.
Hay varias personas aquí que hablan español. There are several people here who speak Spanish.

Individuo vs. individual: Individuo is a noun meaning “(an) individual” or “(a) person”. Individual is the adjective form meaning “individual” in the sense of “single” (only one).

Es un individuo extraño. He's a strange individual.
El señor Gómez nos dio una lección individual. Mr. Gómez gave us an individual lesson.

Aparecer, parecer, and parecerse. Aparecer means “to appear” in the sense of “to make an appearance”, such as a ghost. Parecer means “to appear” in the sense of “seem”. Parecerese a means “to resemble” or “to look like (someone)”.

De repente una nube oscura apareció sobre nosotros. Suddenly a dark cloud appeared over us.
Eso parece ridículo. That seems ridiculous.
Elena se parece a su madre, ¿no? Elena looks like her mother, right?

“And” and “or”: The conjunctions y/e and o/u. Y (and) changes to e before a word beginning with the sound “i” [which may also be spelled hi because in Spanish h is silent]. Likewise, o (or) becomes u before a word beginning with the the sound “u”.

Su carta es larga e interesante. Her letter is long and interesting.
Vinieron e hicieron todo lo posible para ayudarme. They came and did everything they could to help me.
Hay siete u ocho chicos aquí. There seven or eight kids here.

Capitalization in titles of articles, books, etc. The usual rule in Spanish for capitalization of titles of articles, songs, books, movies, etc. is to capitalize only the first word and proper nouns:

Article: “El concepto del honor en las obras de Lope de Vega” (“The Concept of Honor in the Works of Lope de Vega”)
Song: “La blanca Navidad” (“White Christmas”)
Book: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote de la Mancha)
Movie: Lo que el viento se llevó (Gone With the Wind)

Remember also that days of the week (lunes, martes, ...), months of the year (enero, febrero, ...), nationalites and languages (español, francés) are not capitalized unless they are the first word in a sentence or title.

Pero, sino, sino que. Pero is the usual conjunction that means “but”. Sino means “but” in the sense of “but rather” and is used when preceded by a negated item which is replaced by what follows sino (i.e., “not this but rather the other”). Sino que is used in the same was as sino, but is followed by a clause (including a conjugated verb) that replaces the preceding negated item.

Preferimos jugar pero no podemos. We prefer to play, but we can't.
No quiero la blusa azul sino la roja. I don't want the blue blouse but rather the red one.
No salieron anoche sino que comieron en casa. They didn't go out last night, but (instead) they ate at home.

“So much” and “as much” = tanto [never *tan mucho!]. Note also that the plural form “so many” is tantos/as.

Por favor, no bebas tanto. Please, don't drink so much.
Ella trabajó tanto como yo. She worked as much as I (did).
Nunca he visto tantas personas en un mismo lugar. I've never seen so many people in one place.

“Time”: vez vs. tiempo vs. hora.
Tiempo (in addition to meaning “weather”) refers to time in the general or abstract sense, similar to “era” or “epoch” or as time as something which passes:

Estos tiempos son difíciles. These times are hard.
No tengo tiempo para leer nada. I don't have time to read anything.

Vez means time in the sense of “occurrence”; it is also used in such expressions as muchas veces (“often”, “many times”), una vez (“once”) , and a veces or algunas veces (“sometimes” or “at times”).

Esta vez voy a ganar. This time I'm going to win.
Muchas veces voy al cine a solas. I often go to the movies by myself.
A veces [o: Algunas veces] es mejor esperar un poco. Sometimes it's better to wait a while.

Hora refers to a specific time of the day:

Es (la) hora de comer. It's time to eat.
¿Sabes la hora? ¿Qué hora es? Do you know the time? What time is it?

“To learn”: aprender and enterarse de. Aprender means to “learn by studying”, whereas enterarse de is to learn in the sense of “to find out”, somewhat similar to descubrir.

En esa clase aprendimos mucho vocabulario. We learned a lot of vocabulary in that class.
Nos enteramos de que alguien nos espiaba. We learned (or: found out) that someone was spying on us.

“Another”: otro [never *un otro! Aaaaargh!] You cannot use the indefinite artifcle un(-a) before otro:

Tengo otra idea. I have another idea.

Also note that in Spanish the plural form otros occurs before, not after, a number:

Tengo que hacer otras mil cosas. I have to do a thousand another things.

“Most of” + noun is generally expressed as la mayor parte de:

Pasaremos la mayor parte del día en el centro comercial. We'll spend most of the day at the shopping center.

Negation. In a negative sentence, one negative must appear immediately beafore the verb (and any accompanying direct or indirect object pronouns). Other negatives may appear somewhere after the verb, including nadie (“no one”), nunca or jamás (“never”), ningún/o/a (“none” or “no” [used before a noun]). Remember to convert indefinite words (i.e, “something”, “anybody”, etc.) to their negative equivalents and to avoid the plural form of ningún unless it modifies a noun which is always used in the plural (e.g., ningún libro, but ningunos pantalones):

No es nada. It's nothing. (Or: It's not anything.)
Nadie viene aquí jamás. No one ever comes here.
No tenemos ningún diccionario. We don't have any dictionaries.

“Century”. The word century is usually translated as siglo. When writing a century, Roman numerals are used after the word siglo, but cardinal numbers are used in speech:

Pronto entramos en el siglo XXI (el siglo veintiuno). We'll soon enter the 21st Century.
Cervantes nació a mediados del siglo XVI (el siglo dieciséis). Cervantes was born in the middle of the 16th Century.