Why Is It So Hard To Learn Spanish: 4 Difficult Spanish Grammar Topics

Why is it so hard to learn Spanish?

Spanish is one of the most widely learned languages in the world. However, it has its difficulties, especially for native English speakers. Here’s what Maura, our Spring Spanish teacher has to say about this topic:

Let’s take a look at four of the biggest challenges, what you can do to overcome the 4 biggest challenges, and learn Spanish with ease.

1. Verb tenses in Spanish

Okay, let’s start with the most famous reason on why is it so hard to learn Spanish: the ridiculous amount of verb tenses that exist in Spanish. 

To give you an idea of the complexity, the verb tenses and moods in Spanish exist as:

• Indicativo (Indicative)
• Subjuntivo (Subjunctive)
• Presente (Present tense)
• Pretérito imperfecto (Past imperfect)
• Pretérito (Pretérito)
• Futuro simple (Simple future)
• Condicional simple (Simple conditional)
• Pretérito perfecto compuesto (Past perfect compound)
• Pretérito pluscuamperfecto (Plusquamperfekt)
• Pretérito anterior (Past preterite)

Confused yet? The important thing to remember is that not even we use all of them all the time.

In fact, there are several that we rarely use!

Sure, learning all the conjugation tables is a headache, but that’s not what we do at Spring Spanish.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

Here are the verb tenses we recommend you focus on, with some examples:

2. Tips for learning the verb tenses in Spanish

Now, a few tips to keep navigating the times:)

Make emphasis on the future tense

The future is a good tense to make emphasis on. Let’s note that when we talk about the future in Spanish, we almost use the expression voy a (I’m going to), which is actually a present tense!

We use voy a instead of iré (I will), which is the official future tense.

Some examples to see it in action:

It is the most common way to use the future tense in Spanish.

Focus on expressions instead of learning all the verb tenses

It is a better idea to focus on expressions that start with yo (I) rather than trying to cover all the pronouns at the same time:

Then you can get used to removing the yo (I) which is more natural in Spanish. 

Notice patterns in Spanish

Don’t learn lists of verbs.

Our advice is that you focus on noticing the patterns in which verbs usually end

For example, English -ing verbs correspond to -ando, -endo in Spanish. 

And finally, practice, practice, practice!

Practice repeating what you hear, just as you learned English. You’ll know something is right because you’ve heard it way too many times. Without needing to know what exactly the past perfect tense is.

3. Gender and adjectives in Spanish

Ok, we totally understand that you find it absurd that objects have gender.

Therefore, do not try to find logic in it. It is absolutely arbitrary. 

Rather, get used to recognizing the names of things always with their article. In this way, the association will be created from the moment you learn the name of the object.

For example, instead of remembering the word zapato (shoe) remember:

• El zapato (The shoe.)

Not taza (cup) but:

• La taza (The cup.)
• El, for masculine. 
• La, for feminine.  

Most objects ending in “A” are feminine, and most objects ending in “O” are masculine. 

But, there are exceptions!

La mano (the hand) and el día (the day) are among the most common ones.

On the other hand, some endings like -ción, -tud, -sión and -dad are always feminine: 

There are other short words like lo that are not articles, even if they look like it.

Okay, now, what about adjectives? Those little words that tell if something is pretty, long, hot, or yellow. In English, they don’t change, no matter the object. In Spanish, they do. 

So, if an object is masculine like el vaso (the glass), its adjective, which comes right after, must also be masculine.

For example: 

All of these have exceptions, but the more chunks like these you use, the more you will be able to come across the exceptions naturally and register them as new chunks.

3. Ser and estar (To be) in Spanish

Turning the verb “to be” into two verbs in Spanish doesn’t have to be unpleasant. I promise you. Let’s go through several chunks together so you can split these two concepts in your head. 

The biggest division starts with the idea of location. Ask yourself, am I talking about location? As in: 

If the answer is yes, then use estar.

The next question is: Am I talking about a permanent or temporary condition? 

These are examples of temporal conditions and are also expressed with estar. 

Now, all of the following are considered permanent conditions and are expressed with ser. 

Therefore, everything that falls into the same category as these chunks, will answer to the same rule. Nationalities go with ser, emotions with estar, and so on

Note that estar has fewer uses than ser. For deeper insights, you can check Mariana’s video on ser y estar here:

4. Why is it so hard to learn Spanish: Prepositional Pronouns!

We admit that the title of this section is scary. It scares even me, but let’s demystify it now.

This topic is about those little words that are used in Spanish to replace objects and/or people to avoid repeating them. The key is that they are only used when it is clear who or what you are talking about. 

Here are some examples of prepositional pronouns:  

You can see how lo is used to avoid having to say “him” and te to avoid having to say “you”.

Thanks to the same patterns we have learned so far, you will know that: lo and los substitute masculine objects or people. And la and las, feminine objects or people. 

So we have:

Sometimes you can think of la as “her” or “it”: 

• Se perdió la pelota. Hay que buscarla. (The ball got lost. We have to look for it.)

In lo as “him” or “it”: 

• Él es mentiroso. No le creo. (He is a liar. I don’t believe him.)

And in las, los as “them”: 

• Tengo tus zapatos. ¿Los llevo? (I have your shoes. Should I bring them?)

Then you have me for yo (I): 

• Llámame en un rato, estoy ocupada. (Call me in a while, I’m busy.)

Te for tú (you): 

• ¡Vístete rápido, que nos tenemos que ir! (Get dressed quickly, we have to go!)

And nos for nosotros/nosotras (we): 

• Salgamos esta tarde a pasear. (Let’s go for a walk this afternoon.)