DO YOU "PRACTICE SPORT"?

21/10/2016

PLEASE DON'T TELL ME THAT YOU "PRACTICE SPORT"!

Many Spanish speakers use the phrase: "I like to "practice sport" at the weekend". This is SPANGLISH! Instead you need to say: "I like to do sport at the weekend".

If you want to be more specific you need you use "play": "I like to play tennis at the weekend" (there are some exceptions, of course, like swimming and running). The word "practice" is used more in connection with an instrument: "Every day I practice the piano".

I hope that helps you and if you are interested in AVOIDING more Spanglish mistakes you can check out my book on Amazon.com!

4 Comments

María

25/10/2016 10:40:04

Hi Daniel + partners,

Thank you for the information. My question is: if you are used to practice many sports and you want to say it in general, not specific one, which is the correct form to say it?

Thank you,
Maria

Daniel link

25/10/2016 11:14:30

Hi Maria,

Thanks for your message. You can say: "I like DOING a lot of sport" or "I PLAY lots of sports".

Hope that helps!

Daniel

Dorota

20/5/2019 22:13:58

It's possible to write:

To get better in sport or playing music, you have to practice/practse a lot.

Thank you!
Dorota

Cynthia

11/11/2016 13:25:18

Hi Daniel!

And what about "Do you exercise"? Is this correct?

Thanks!

Cynthia

Daniel Smith
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