I have terrible difficulty in avoiding errors in gender agreement. It isn't just the "puzzling" cases, such as masculine words that end in -a (el planeta, el tema, el mapa), or the feminine words that end in -o (la mano), or the feminine words that end in -a but take <em>el</em> anyway (el agua, el aguilla). It's that I just can't make it automatic. The part of my brain that is capable of automatic, fluent speech just doesn't accept the idea of gender.

The subjunctive mood is difficult to use in normal conversation because it requires thinking, but I know that if I practice I will get more comfortable with it.

The usage of definite articles like "el" and "la" sometimes feels arbitrary, but again, I am sure there is a logic to it.

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