Every trap from the preceding twelve documents, consolidated and ranked by how often it will actually bite you in Buenos Aires. Each entry: the error, the fix, the derivation, the section.
This is the document to read if you read only one. It's also the one the /spanish-grammara /spanish-* skill skill pulls from when the dial scoreboardthe dial scoreboard has no clear leader.
How this is ranked§
Not by grammatical severity — by expected cost, which is (frequency of the structure) × (how badly the error lands). A subjunctive slip in a relative clause is a bigger grammatical crime than saying aquí, but you'll say aquí forty times a day and it marks you instantly, so it ranks higher.
| Tier | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Will happen today. Fix before the trip. |
| Tier 2 | Will happen this week. Fix during the sprint. |
| Tier 3 | Will happen eventually. Fix on the ground. |
| Tier 4 | Exists. Know it. Don't spend a session on it. |
TIER 1 — fix before you land frequency 3 of 3, daily§
Lexical/dialectal — cheapest fixes, biggest first impression§
| # | Error | Fix | § |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | aquí, allí | acá, allá | 04 §6.3 |
| 2 | contigo, para ti | con vos, para vos | 03 §6 |
| 3 | tú tienes, vosotros | vos tenés, ustedes | 05 §7 |
| 4 | vos eres / vos es | vos sos | 05 §5 |
| 5 | coger | agarrar / tomar — means "to have sex" in Argentina | 12 §5.3 |
| 6 | piscina, coche, dinero, apartamento | pileta, auto, plata, depto | 12 §8 |
| 7 | Using usted with peers | vos, immediately | 12 §2.2 |
| 8 | vé as the vos imperative of ir | andá | 05 §7.1 |
Structural — the ones that produce ungrammatical sentences§
known defectdiagram defect — Tier 1 — Structural traps that produce ungrammatical sentences Actually: Row 10: the Error cell and the Fix cell show the same form. The error is written *me gusta**n**... (with the plural n present and bolded) while the caption says 'forgetting plural agreement', and the fix is *Me gusta**n** los vinos*. The intended wrong form is *me gusta los vinos (no n); the bold markup landed on the wrong side of the row.. (not re-checked against the source file)| # | Error | Fix | § |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | yo gusto el vino (ungrammatical) | *Me gusta el vino* — inverted frame; verb agrees with the thing | 11 §6 |
| 10 | me gusta* (ungrammatical)n*… ← forgetting plural agreement | Me gusta*n* los vinos | 11 §6.1 |
| 11 | si pueda / si (ungrammatical) tenga (ungrammatical) | Never si + present subjunctive. Si puedo | 07 §6 |
| 12 | quiero vos ir (ungrammatical) | Quiero *que vayas** — different subjects need que* + subj | 07 §3.1 |
| 13 | Avoiding double negatives | No vi *nada*** — concord is mandatory | 11 §4.2 |
| 14 | nadie no vino (ungrammatical) | Nadie vino — pre-verbal negative kills no | 11 §4.2 |
| 15 | el corriendo (ungrammatical), antes de saliendo (ungrammatical) | Infinitive: correr, antes de salir | 10 §2–3 |
| 16 | un email diciendo que… (ungrammatical) | un email *que dice*… — gerundio can't modify a noun | 10 §3.1 |
| 17 | vi María (ungrammatical) | Vi *a* María — DOM | 11 §3 |
| 18 | me se cayó (ungrammatical) | *se me cayó — se* is always first | 03 §4 |
| 19 | le lo di (ungrammatical) | *se lo di* — dissimilation | 03 §4 |
| 20 | el tipo vi (ungrammatical) (dropping relative que) | el tipo *que* vi | 03 §7 |
| 21 | gracias para (ungrammatical) | gracias por | 09 §2.3 |
| 22 | busco por un depto (ungrammatical), esperar por (ungrammatical) | No preposition: busco un depto | 09 §4.6 |
| 23 | me duele mi cabeza (ungrammatical) | me duele *la* cabeza — article + dative | 02 §2, 08 §6 |
| 24 | soy un consultor (ungrammatical) | Soy consultor | 02 §3 |
| 25 | un otro café (ungrammatical) | otro café | 02 §3 |
| 26 | Me gusta vino (ungrammatical) | Me gusta *el* vino — generics take the article | 02 §2 |
The three live dials§
| # | Error | Fix | § |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Choosing preterite/imperfect by duration | By boundedness. Viví veinte años ahí is preterite | 06 §1 |
| 28 | Treating supe/conocí/pude as vocabulary exceptions | Bounded state = its onset. One derivation | 06 §4 |
| 29 | Missing the negation flip on mood | Creo que *viene / No creo que *venga | 07 §3.3 |
| 30 | Indicative after future cuando | Cuando *llegue*, te escribo | 07 §3.6 |
| 31 | Permanent/temporary for ser/estar | Category vs condition | 08 §4.1 |
| 32 | el asado está en lo de Martín (ungrammatical) | Events take ser | 08 §4.3 |
Register — the textbook-sound problem§
TIER 2 — fix during the four weeks frequency 2 of 3, secondary§
| # | Error | Fix | § |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | Diphthongizing vos forms: vos tienés (ungrammatical) | vos tenés — final stress kills the diphthong | 05 §4.1 |
| 38 | Accenting strong preterites: estuvé, dijó (ungrammatical) (ungrammatical) | estuve, dijo — stem-stressed | 05 §4.4 |
| 39 | Missing enclitic accents: damelo (ungrammatical) | dámelo, decímelo | 03 §3, 05 §7.1 |
| 40 | Building the subjunctive from the infinitive | From the yo form: tengo → tenga | 05 §6 |
| 41 | Regularizing future stems: teneré (ungrammatical) | tendré | 05 §4.5 |
| 42 | Agreeing the participle after haber | Invariable: he escrito las cartas | 10 §4.2 |
| 43 | Not agreeing it with estar/tener | está cerrada, tengo hecha la reserva | 10 §4.3–4.5 |
| 44 | English-style passives: fue hecho por Martín (ungrammatical) | Martín lo hizo / se hizo / lo hicieron | 08 §3 |
| 45 | Agentive accidents: rompí el vaso | *Se me rompió el vaso* | 08 §2.6 |
| 46 | Missing anticausative se: el vaso rompió (ungrammatical) | Se rompió | 08 §2.3 |
| 47 | pienso de vos (ungrammatical) for "think about you" | pienso *en* vos | 09 §4.2 |
| 48 | Guessing por/para | Backward/through vs forward | 09 §2 |
| 49 | Missing acordarse *de, darse cuenta *de | The de is obligatory | 09 §4.1 |
| 50 | pero where a negative is being corrected | sino | 09 §6 |
| 51 | Adjectives before the noun by default | Default is after; before = subjective | 04 §2 |
| 52 | más que cien pesos (ungrammatical) | más *de* cien pesos | 04 §5.3 |
| 53 | más que lo que pensaba (ungrammatical) | más *de lo que* pensaba | 11 §7 |
| 54 | más bueno, más (ungrammatical) malo (ungrammatical) | mejor, peor | 04 §5.2 |
| 55 | muy with verbs / mucho with adjectives | me gustó *mucho*, *es muy* lindo | 04 §6.4 |
| 56 | Over-using -mente adverbs | habla *rápido*** | 04 §6.2 |
| 57 | Over-using mi/tu/su | Article if ownership is obvious | 02 §6.3 |
| 58 | todo día / todos (ungrammatical) días (ungrammatical) | todo *el día / todos los* días | 02 §7.2 |
| 59 | la gente son (ungrammatical) | la gente *es*** | 01 §3.3 |
| 60 | Gender by guess | Learn nouns as article + noun | 01 §2 |
| 61 | el agua frío (ungrammatical) | el agua *fría*** — feminine noun, phonological article | 01 §2.6 |
| 62 | los examenes, los (ungrammatical) jovenes (ungrammatical) | exámenes, jóvenes | 01 §3.2 |
| 63 | capaz que + subjunctive | Capaz que vuelvo — indicative in RP | 07 §7 |
| 64 | Wrong tense sequence: me dijo que venga (ungrammatical) | me dijo que *viniera*** | 07 §5 |
| 65 | Indicative in non-specific relative clauses | un depto que *tenga* balcón | 07 §4 |
| 66 | DOM on non-specific objects: busco a un plomero (ungrammatical) | busco un plomero | 11 §3 |
| 67 | Fronting without a clitic: el pescado comí (ungrammatical) | el pescado *lo* comí | 11 §2.3 |
| 68 | habían muchos (ungrammatical) | había muchos | 11 §5.1 |
| 69 | es frío (ungrammatical) for weather | hace frío | 11 §5.2 |
| 70 | Using he comido at Peninsular frequency | comí | 06 §5.1 |
| 71 | English progressive: estoy volando mañana (ungrammatical) | vuelo mañana | 06 §6.1 |
| 72 | Adverbial "again" everywhere | *volvió a llamar* | 06 §7.1 |
| 73 | hay que vs tener que confusion | Impersonal vs personal | 06 §7.2 |
| 74 | me gusta about a person you like platonically | me cae bien | 11 §6.2 |
| 75 | Stranding prepositions | Spanish fronts them: el bar *del que* te hablé | 03 §7 |
| 76 | Subjunctive after conceded aunque | Aunque *es* caro = it is | 07 §3.7 |
| 77 | que + subj when subjects match | Vine *para hablar*** | 07 §3.5 |
| 78 | Missing antes de que's absolute subjunctive | Always subj | 07 §3.6 |
| 79 | Gerundio for consequence: cayó rompiéndose el brazo (ungrammatical) | cayó *y se rompió*** | 10 §3.1 |
| 80 | Preposition on means-gerundio: por hablando (ungrammatical) | Bare hablando | 10 §3.2 |
| 81 | jugar fútbol (ungrammatical) | jugar *al* fútbol | 09 §4.3 |
| 82 | Irregular participles regularized: ponido (ungrammatical) | puesto | 10 §4.1 |
| 83 | Four become verbs by guess | ponerse/volverse/hacerse/quedarse | 08 §5 |
| 84 | American hedged requests | Direct + warmth markers | 12 §7.2 |
| 85 | Skipping the individual greeting circuit | Non-optional | 12 §7.3 |
TIER 3 — on the ground frequency 1 of 3, rare§
| # | Error | Fix | § |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86 | Missing meaning-shift adjective positions | un *viejo amigo ≠ un amigo viejo*** | 04 §2.3 |
| 87 | lentamente y cuidadosamente (ungrammatical) | lenta y cuidadosamente | 04 §6.1 |
| 88 | un grande tipo (ungrammatical) | un *gran* tipo | 04 §3 |
| 89 | Predicate adjectives not agreeing | los chicos están cansado*s*** | 04 §4.2 |
| 90 | Confusing todavía no / ya no | not yet / no longer | 04 §7 |
| 91 | Not using recién | Recién llegué | 04 §7 |
| 92 | Forcing aquel | BA runs este/ese | 02 §5 |
| 93 | Leaving su ambiguous when it matters | de él / de ella / de ustedes | 02 §6.2 |
| 94 | Missing lo de + person | en lo de Martín | 02 §4.3 |
| 95 | ¿Cuál vino? (ungrammatical) | ¿*Qué* vino? — cuál never precedes a noun | 03 §8 |
| 96 | le vi for a man (leísmo) | lo vi | 03 §5.4 |
| 97 | Omitting the doubling clitic | Le di el libro a María | 03 §5.1 |
| 98 | Over-producing yo | Pronoun = spotlight | 03 §2 |
| 99 | se vende casas (ungrammatical) | se *venden* casas | 08 §2.5 |
| 100 | Reading se comió as reflexive | Completive aspect | 08 §2.7 |
| 101 | acordar for "remember" | acordar*se* de | 08 §2.8 |
| 102 | All-preterite narration | Descriptions go imperfect | 06 §9 |
| 103 | estar a punto de where RP says estar por | Estoy por salir | 06 §7.1 |
| 104 | Missing ir/andar/seguir + gerundio | ando buscando, voy pidiendo, sigo trabajando | 06 §6.2 |
| 105 | Not agreeing tener + participle | tengo *hecha* la reserva | 06 §7.3 |
| 106 | y inglés (ungrammatical) | e inglés | 09 §5 |
| 107 | Starting a cause clause with porque | *Como llovía, no fui* | 09 §7 |
| 108 | a lo mejor venga (ungrammatical) | a lo mejor *viene*** | 07 §7 |
| 109 | Never using ¿viste? | Free register win | 11 §8.3 |
| 110 | Missing al + infinitive | al llegar | 10 §2.3 |
| 111 | English noun-stacking: chocolate torta (ungrammatical) | torta *de* chocolate | 01 §4 |
| 112 | Reading diminutives as literal size | Register dial | 01 §5.2 |
| 113 | Adding do-support to questions | Intonation only | 11 §8.1 |
| 114 | Not using tampoco | — A mí tampoco. | 02 §7.2 |
TIER 4 — know it, don't drill it§
| # | Item | § |
|---|---|---|
| 115 | cuyo — recognize, speak around it | 03 §7 |
| 116 | el cual — formal written only | 03 §7 |
| 117 | Future subjunctive — extinct in Spanish | 05 §6 |
| 118 | hube hablado — extinct | 06 §5.4 |
| 119 | Learned superlatives (óptimo, pésimo) | 04 §5.4 |
| 120 | Double participles (impreso/imprimido) | 10 §4.1 |
| 121 | Absolute participle constructions | 10 §4.6 |
| 122 | de + infinitive as conditional | 10 §2.8 |
| 123 | Infinitive with explicit subject | 10 §2.7 |
| 124 | deber de for conjecture | 06 §7.2 |
| 125 | vesre production | 12 §5.2 |
| 126 | no… más que vs no… más de | 11 §4.4 |
The five that would fix the most§
If you did nothing else with this reference, do these. They're chosen for expected cost, not elegance.
1 · Delete aquí, contigo, tú, and coger from your active vocabulary. Four words, one afternoon. Nothing else in this document buys as much per unit of effort — the first three make every sentence sound non-Argentine, and the fourth is genuinely embarrassing.
2 · Install the gustar frame as a template, not a translation. verb(stimulus = subject, experiencer = dative). Say me gustan out loud with plural things until the agreement is automatic. This class contains gustar, encantar, molestar, faltar, doler, parecer, quedar, dar bronca, caer bien — a dozen verbs you'll use hourly, all sharing one shape.
3 · Learn the negation flip as a pair, using your own line. No digo que *esté mal. Digo que es* distinto. One sentence, both mood settings, four seconds apart, written by you about arguing with friends. Drill it as a unit and the assertion switch stops being abstract.
4 · Memorize the non-finite flowchart (10 §5). Seven questions, seven answers. It converts the entire -ing interference problem — the largest single error family for English speakers — into a lookup you can run in real time.
5 · Put six discourse markers into rotation. Igual, dale, viste, o sea, tipo, nada. Not vocabulary — structural. Their absence is precisely what "textbook Spanish" is, and igual alone lets you agree-then-disagree in one word, which is the basic move of Argentine conversation.
What this catalogue isn't§
It's a list of 126 things you're going to get wrong. Read that way it's demoralizing and useless.
Read correctly, it's the opposite: an inventory of the errors you'll make anyway, each pre-attached to its derivation. You will produce me duele mi cabeza (ungrammatical) in Buenos Aires. Everyone does. The value here isn't preventing it — it's that when someone corrects you, the fix arrives as a mechanism you've already seen (the dative already says whose) rather than as one more arbitrary rule to resent.
Nobody drills a hundred and twenty-six items. The /spanish-grammara /spanish-* skill skill exists so that your own scoreboard picks which three matter this week.
End of the reference. Return to 00-INDEX.md00-INDEX.md for the lookup table, or claude/grammar/01-SPANISH.mdclaude/grammar/ for the nine-thousand-word map.