9 embarrassing Spanish mistakes you should really avoid

Although I usually write about tourism nd travels, I thought that writing article about spanish language mistakes would be appropriate as it's going to help out anyone who decides to visit Barcelona. Although Catalan is an official language in Barcelona, so is Spanish! When your here, it's probably going to be a lot easier for you if you learn Spanish beforehand, especially if you're moving on to other parts of Spain afterwards. There are a lot of embarrassing mistakes that you can make when you speak Spanish, and the best way to avoid them is to know them. Here we go, 9 mistakes in Spanish that will embarrass you if you're not careful!

Estoy embarazada: This is the classic mistake that most people know about already. When you look at the word embarazada, you might think that it means embarrassed, but that's only what you'll feel when you say it, because it means "I'm pregnant"...

Correrse: In Spanish we have reflexive verbs and they can change the meaning of a word significantly. Correr is to run, Correrse is... To orgasm. You can imagine the hilarity when a friend of mine meant to say "Vi parque Güell y corrí." (I saw Park Güell and I ran), but instead said "Vi parque Güell y me corrí." (I saw Park Güell and... yeah...). Park Güell is very exciting, that's for sure... Just not that exciting.

Feliz ano nuevo: N and Ñ are two different letters pronounced differently. This new year I received a card from my family, bless them, they tried their hardest to write in Spanish, but instead of writing "Feliz año nuevo!" (Happy new year!), they wrote "Feliz ano nuevo!" (Happy new anus!)... It's the thought that counts? When speaking though, remember año is pronounced like anyo and ano is pronounce like ano or you could make the same mistake.

Hecho (un) polvo: The term "Estoy hecho polvo" is fine (I'm beat), and it's probably what you meant to say when you tried to say you were physically tired to an extreme. Add an "un" in there though and you're literally saying a badly structured sentence that makes it sound like you're "having a fling".

Pollo: Okay, another dirty one. At this point we have to note that for some reason Spanish has been designed to trap people into making dirty mistakes. If you change the last letter of Pollo from o to a, thinking it's the female version of pollo, you're mistaken because you're actually referring to a guy's genitals. Please don't go into a shop and ask the shop assistant for help finding one... Especially if it's a guy.

Estoy caliente: If you're hot (which will happen a lot in Spain), then don't say this! What you mean to say is "tengo calor". Estoy caliente actually means you're turned on! Announce this in a crowded metro of Barcelona and it's going to get awkward...There's I'm hot and then there's I'm "hot".

Tener Calor
There's I'm hot and then there's I'm "hot".

Pareja: The word Pareja is fine, it means couple as in "Somos una pareja", just don't say ""Somos una pajera" because that means "We're a... *vulgarism*". I´m not even going to publish it here! Look it up for yourself, but trust me, you don't want to say this!

Caigo/Cago: If you drink too much alcohol, you might end up doing either one of these in the street, so make sure you say the one you mean. If you say "Me caigo" it means you fell, whereas if you say "Me cago" it means you pooed yourself. Get it right please.

Ser/Estar: This one is very general, but both mean "to be". For example "Estas aburrido" means you're bored, whereas "Eres aburrido" means you're boring. "Eres rico" means you're rich, "Estas rico" means you're sexy. If you're talking to a grandma and want to call her a good person, then say "Eres bueno", because if you say "Estas bueno" you're actually calling her tasty, and that's just weird.