Ser vs. estar, false friends, and gendered nouns — the recurring traps, and how to get past them.
Beyond ser/estar confusion, English speakers often trip on "false friends" (embarazada means pregnant, not embarrassed), guess noun gender from English logic (el problema is masculine despite ending in -a), and over-translate English phrasal verbs word for word. The fix is the same as with any language: enough real exposure that the correct pattern starts to feel natural before you can recite the rule.