Breakdown of Es fácil cometer un error cuando hablamos rápido.
Questions & Answers about Es fácil cometer un error cuando hablamos rápido.
Spanish often uses an impersonal structure where English uses “it is + adjective + to…”.
- In Es fácil cometer un error, the logical subject is the infinitive phrase:
cometer un error = to make/commit a mistake - Literally: Cometer un error es fácil (To make a mistake is easy), but Spanish usually prefers the impersonal order:
Es fácil cometer un error (It is easy to make a mistake). - There is no separate word for “it” here. Spanish doesn’t need a dummy subject the way English does.
- Es just agrees with the understood subject phrase cometer un error (which is grammatically singular and abstract).
In Spanish, different verbs “collocate” naturally with certain nouns:
- You normally cometer un error / cometer un delito / cometer una falta, etc.
- You hacer many other things: hacer la cama, hacer ejercicio, hacer una pregunta, but not usually hacer un error.
So:
- ✅ cometer un error = natural, standard Spanish
- ❌ hacer un error = understood, but sounds wrong/foreign
A near-synonym is:
- tener un error – used more in technical or written contexts (e.g. in code, documents), but less idiomatic than cometer un error in this general sentence.
The pattern Es + adjective + infinitive is very common in Spanish:
- Es fácil cometer un error.
- Es difícil entender esto.
- Es peligroso conducir rápido.
Some key points:
- After Es + adjective in this impersonal structure, you normally use the infinitive:
- Es fácil cometer un error. (It is easy to make a mistake.)
- Es fácil comete un error is incorrect.
- If you want a conjugated verb, the structure usually changes, often with que:
- Es fácil que cometamos un error. (It’s likely that we’ll make a mistake.)
– This has a more “probable” / “likely” nuance, and it uses the subjunctive (cometamos).
- Es fácil que cometamos un error. (It’s likely that we’ll make a mistake.)
In your sentence, the goal is just to say the activity (making a mistake) is easy in general, so the infinitive is perfect.
Spanish can use singular to mean “a/any mistake” in general, especially in generic statements:
- Es fácil cometer un error.
= It’s easy to make a mistake / It’s easy to make mistakes (in general).
You can say:
- Es fácil cometer errores. (It’s easy to make mistakes.)
Both are correct. Differences:
- un error: slightly more focused on a single mistake, but still generic.
- errores: more clearly plural, but the meaning in this kind of general statement barely changes.
Native speakers use both. The singular is very natural here.
After cuando, Spanish chooses indicative or subjunctive depending on the context:
Habit / general truth / something that actually happens:
→ Indicative- Cuando hablamos rápido, es fácil cometer un error.
= Whenever we talk fast / When we talk fast (in general), it’s easy to make a mistake.
- Cuando hablamos rápido, es fácil cometer un error.
Future / something not yet realized, uncertain, or hypothetical:
→ Subjunctive- Cuando hablemos rápido en la presentación, vamos a estar nerviosos.
= When we speak fast during the presentation (in the future), we’ll be nervous.
- Cuando hablemos rápido en la presentación, vamos a estar nerviosos.
In your sentence, the speaker is talking about a general tendency, so the present indicative (hablamos) is exactly what you want.
Yes, you can, but there are nuances:
- rápido here acts as an adverb (= fast, quickly).
- Cuando hablamos rápido… is totally standard in Spain and very common in everyday speech.
- rápidamente is the more “classic” -mente adverb (= rapidly, quickly), a bit more formal or neutral.
- Cuando hablamos rápidamente… is correct and understood, just a bit less colloquial.
In modern Spanish (especially in Spain):
- rápido is often used as both adjective and adverb:
- un coche rápido (adjective)
- hablar rápido (adverb)
So in Spain, cuando hablamos rápido sounds more natural in ordinary conversation than cuando hablamos rápidamente.
In this sentence, rápido is functioning as an adverb, not an adjective:
- It describes how we speak (hablar), not a noun.
Adverbs in Spanish (like bien, mal, aquí) do not change for gender or number.
- hablamos rápido = we speak fast / quickly
- It does not have to agree with hablamos or any noun, so it stays rápido, not rápida.
rápida would be an adjective, used with a feminine noun:
- una respuesta rápida (a quick answer)
- una decisión rápida (a quick decision)
Es fácil de cometer un error is not natural Spanish and is normally considered incorrect.
In Spanish:
- After fácil and similar adjectives, you do not usually add de when the complement is a direct infinitive:
- ✅ Es fácil cometer un error.
- ❌ Es fácil de cometer un error.
You can find fácil de + infinitive in other types of structures, typically when it clearly describes a noun:
- Este ejercicio es fácil de hacer.
- El problema es difícil de resolver.
But in your sentence, cometer un error is not modifying a noun like ejercicio or problema; it’s the main action. So you keep it as:
- Es fácil cometer un error.
Yes, absolutely. Both versions are correct and very natural:
- Es fácil cometer un error cuando hablamos rápido.
- Cuando hablamos rápido, es fácil cometer un error.
Differences:
- The meaning is the same.
- Starting with Cuando hablamos rápido slightly emphasizes the condition/situation first:
- When we talk fast, [then] it’s easy to make a mistake.
Both orders are very normal in spoken and written Spanish.
In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, nosotros, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the subject:
- hablamos clearly indicates “we speak” (nosotros / nosotras).
- So cuando hablamos rápido is naturally understood as when we speak fast.
You usually add nosotros only when you want to:
- Emphasize the subject:
- Cuando nosotros hablamos rápido, ellos no nos entienden.
- Contrast with another subject:
- Cuando nosotros hablamos rápido, tú no entiendes nada.
In neutral, non-contrastive sentences, leaving out nosotros is more natural.
Yes, you can:
- Es fácil equivocarse cuando hablamos rápido.
(It’s easy to get something wrong / make a mistake when we talk fast.)
Differences:
cometer un error:
- Slightly more neutral/formal or technical.
- Focuses on the error itself as a “thing” you commit.
equivocarse (reflexive verb):
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Focuses more on us being wrong / messing up.
- Literally: It’s easy to be mistaken when we talk fast.
Both are good, and often interchangeable in this context. In casual speech in Spain, es fácil equivocarse is extremely common.
In Es fácil cometer un error, the verb es agrees with the whole infinitive phrase cometer un error, which is grammatically singular:
- Treat cometer un error as one activity (making a mistake), not as multiple items.
Compare:
- Es fácil cometer errores.
Here the concept is still one activity: making mistakes, so es remains singular.
You would only get son fáciles when the subject is a clearly plural noun, not an infinitive phrase:
- Los ejercicios son fáciles.
- Los errores son fáciles de cometer.
But with ser + adjective + infinitive, you nearly always see es, because the subject idea is a single action (in infinitive form).
Spanish present simple is used both for:
Right now / current action
- Ahora hablamos con Juan. (We’re talking to Juan now.)
Habits, general truths, and typical situations
- Cuando hablamos rápido, es fácil cometer un error.
= Whenever we talk fast (as a general rule), it’s easy to make a mistake.
- Cuando hablamos rápido, es fácil cometer un error.
English often uses expressions like “when we speak fast” or “whenever we speak fast” for this use. Spanish just uses the normal present tense hablamos for these generic statements.