After reading today’s blog post, you will know how to ask someone the following:

I recently started studying Brazilian Portuguese again. Today when I was studying Portuguese the instructor in the course mentioned a common mistake that students should be aware of. Many people studying Spanish make a very similar mistake in Spanish. So I want to share the mistake with you.

In the Portuguese course, the instructor said “Do not confuse the words ‘cansado’ and ‘casada’.”

These two words have the same meaning and the same spelling in both Spanish and Portuguese — but with slightly different pronunciations.

cansado – tired
casado – married

How To Say Are You Married In Spanish

In Colombia, on more than one occasion I have heard an English speaker make a mistake when speaking Spanish and use “cansado/a” when he really meant to use “casado/a” and vice versa.

You can imagine the confusion that can follow if the English speaker intends to ask someone if he or she is married, but mistakenly asks the person if he or she is tired. For example, the person responds “no estoy cansado/a” (I am not tired), and the English speaker assumes the person is single. So the correct questions are:

¿Está casado/a? (Are you married?)
¿Está cansado/a? (Are you tired?)

Depending on the country, you can say either of the following in order to ask “are you married.”:

¿Está casado/a?
¿(Usted) es casado/a?

By the way if you are wondering why I am interested in studying Portuguese again it is because I am thinking about going to Rio de Janeiro to live for 6 months. Ex-pats have told me that visitors cannot stay in Brazil with a Visa for more than 6 months. The only way to stay longer — from what I heard — is to marry a Brazilian or have a child by a Brazilian. My Colombian “novia” (girlfriend) would kill me for taking either path.

One reason why I am thinking about going to Brazil is because I want to improve my Portuguese. I am also very passionate about practicing a martial arts called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Rio de Janeiro is the birthplace of it. Besides, I have been living in Medellin for nearly 6 years – and
Medellin is in the interior part of Colombia — many hours from the ocean. And I really miss the ocean.

How To Say Shell In Spanish

Here is another common mistake that many English speakers make when speaking Spanish. Spanish has two words for shell:

1. cáscara
2. concha

“Cáscara” refers to the shell of an egg or nut.

Los huevos se pueden hervir con cáscara.
Eggs can boil with the shell.

“Concha” refers to the shell of an oyster, clam, scallop, mussel, snail, etc. “Concha” can also refer to the shell of a turtle.

Fuiste a la playa y no me trajiste ni una concha. (You went to the beach and you didn’t even bring me a shell.)