Spoken English · Guides · October 30, 2026 · 12 min read

Common English mistakes: 40 errors learners make and how to fix them

The most common English mistakes are small ones: a missing -s in she works, a wrong tense with since, the where there should be none, make instead of do, or the wrong word order in a question. None of them stops people from understanding you, but together they make your English sound less natural. Below are 40 mistakes learners make most often, grouped by type. Each one shows the wrong sentence, the right version and a short explanation of why, so you can fix the pattern, not just one sentence.

How to use this list

• Read one group at a time. Ten mistakes of the same type are easier to remember than 40 random ones.
• Say the correct sentence out loud two or three times. Your mouth needs to learn it, not only your eyes.
• Find your top five. Most learners repeat the same few mistakes again and again. Fix those first.

Verbs and tenses

1. Missing -s with he / she / it

• Wrong: My sister work in a hospital.
• Right: My sister works in a hospital.
• Why: in the present simple, he, she, it (and one person or thing) take -s: works, lives, goes, has.

2. Present tense with since and for

• Wrong: I live here since 2019.
• Right: I’ve lived here since 2019. / I’ve been living here since 2019.
• Why: for a situation that started in the past and continues now, English uses the present perfect.

3. Present perfect with a finished time

• Wrong: I have visited Paris last year.
• Right: I visited Paris last year.
• Why: words like yesterday, last year, in 2020, ago mark a finished time and need the past simple. Use the present perfect without a time: I’ve visited Paris twice.

4. Past form after did

• Wrong: Did you saw the match? / I didn’t went.
• Right: Did you see the match? / I didn’t go.
• Why: did already shows the past, so the main verb stays in the base form.

5. Continuous with state verbs

• Wrong: I am knowing him for years. / I’m wanting a coffee.
• Right: I’ve known him for years. / I want a coffee. (or I’d like a coffee.)
• Why: verbs for states, not actions (know, want, like, need, believe, understand, belong), are not usually used in the continuous.

6. Will after when and if

• Wrong: If it will rain, we will stay at home.
• Right: If it rains, we will stay at home.
• Why: after if, when, as soon as, before, after, until, use the present simple for the future.

7. Used to for present habits

• Wrong: I use to drink coffee every morning.
• Right: I usually drink coffee every morning.
• Why: used to is only for the past: I used to smoke, but I stopped. For present habits, use the present simple with usually.

8. Two verbs without to or -ing

• Wrong: I want go home. / I enjoy to swim.
• Right: I want to go home. / I enjoy swimming.
• Why: some verbs are followed by to + verb (want, need, decide, plan, hope, would like), others by -ing (enjoy, finish, mind, avoid, keep, suggest). Learn them with the pattern.

9. Must or can with to

• Wrong: You must to see this film. / I can to swim.
• Right: You must see this film. / I can swim.
• Why: modal verbs (can, could, must, should, will, would, may, might) are followed by the base form without to.

10. Have for age and be for hunger

• Wrong: I have 25 years. / I have hungry.
• Right: I’m 25 (years old). / I’m hungry.
• Why: English uses be for age and for physical states: I’m cold, I’m thirsty, I’m sleepy, I’m right, I’m afraid.

Questions and word order

11. No auxiliary in questions

• Wrong: Where you live? / Why you are sad?
• Right: Where do you live? / Why are you sad?
• Why: questions need an auxiliary (do, does, did, are, is, have, can) before the subject.

12. Question order in indirect questions

• Wrong: Can you tell me where is the station?
• Right: Can you tell me where the station is?
• Why: after Can you tell me, Do you know, I wonder, use normal sentence order (subject + verb), not question order.

13. Adverb in the wrong place

• Wrong: I like very much football. / She speaks very well English.
• Right: I like football very much. / She speaks English very well.
• Why: don’t put words between the verb and its object. Put very much, well, a lot after the object.

14. Always and never in the wrong place

• Wrong: I go always to work by bus.
• Right: I always go to work by bus.
• Why: frequency words (always, usually, often, never) go before the main verb, but after be: She’s always late.

15. Double negative

• Wrong: I don’t know nothing about it.
• Right: I don’t know anything about it. / I know nothing about it.
• Why: standard English uses only one negative word in a clause. After not, use any-: anything, anybody, anywhere.

Articles and nouns

16. No article before a job

• Wrong: She is engineer.
• Right: She is an engineer.
• Why: a singular job or description needs a/an.

17. The with general ideas

• Wrong: The money is not important for me.
• Right: Money is not important to me.
• Why: uncountable and plural nouns in a general sense have no article. (Also note: important to me is more natural than for me.)

18. A/an with uncountable nouns

• Wrong: Can you give me an advice? / I have a good news.
• Right: Can you give me some advice? / I have some good news.
• Why: advice, news, information, furniture, luggage, homework, research, equipment are uncountable. Use some or a piece of.

19. Plural uncountable nouns

• Wrong: I need more informations. / Where are my luggages?
• Right: I need more information. / Where is my luggage?
• Why: uncountable nouns have no plural form and take a singular verb.

20. People as singular

• Wrong: People is very friendly here.
• Right: People are very friendly here.
• Why: people is plural. One person = a person. Also police is plural: The police are coming.

For the full rules, see articles in English: a, an, the.

Word choice

21. Make or do

• Wrong: I need to make my homework. / Can I do a question?
• Right: I need to do my homework. / Can I ask a question?
• Why: do is for tasks and work (do homework, do the dishes, do sport, do a course); make is for creating (make a cake, make a mistake, make a decision, make money, make a phone call). Questions are asked.

22. Say or tell

• Wrong: He said me the truth. / Tell me what did she say.
• Right: He told me the truth. / Tell me what she said.
• Why: tell needs a person after it (tell me, tell her); say doesn’t (say something, say hello). If you want a person after say, use to: He said to me…

23. Borrow or lend

• Wrong: Can you borrow me your pen?
• Right: Can you lend me your pen? / Can I borrow your pen?
• Why: you lend something to someone; you borrow something from someone.

24. Fun or funny

• Wrong: The party was very funny. (when you mean you enjoyed it)
• Right: The party was a lot of fun.
• Why: fun = enjoyable; funny = it makes you laugh. The film was funny means it was a comedy.

25. Bored or boring

• Wrong: I’m boring in this lesson.
• Right: I’m bored in this lesson. / This lesson is boring.
• Why: -ed describes how you feel; -ing describes the thing that causes the feeling. Same with interested / interesting, tired / tiring, confused / confusing, excited / exciting.

26. Actually meaning “now”

• Wrong: Actually, I work as a designer, but before I was a teacher. (meaning “currently”)
• Right: Currently / At the moment, I work as a designer.
• Why: actually means “in fact, really”: I thought he was French, but actually he’s Belgian. In many languages a similar-looking word means “now”, which is why this mistake is so common.

27. Remember or remind

• Wrong: Remember me to call my mum.
• Right: Remind me to call my mum.
• Why: you remember something yourself; someone or something reminds you.

28. Win or earn

• Wrong: How much do you win a month?
• Right: How much do you earn a month?
• Why: you earn money by working; you win a game, a prize or the lottery.

29. Look, see and watch

• Wrong: I looked a good film yesterday.
• Right: I watched a good film yesterday.
• Why: see = notice with your eyes, without trying; look at = direct your eyes; watch = look at something that moves, for some time (watch TV, a film, a match). Look needs at before an object: Look at this photo.

30. Explain me

• Wrong: Can you explain me this word?
• Right: Can you explain this word to me?
• Why: explain doesn’t take a person directly after it. The same is true for describe, suggest, say: describe it to me, suggest a place to us.

Prepositions

31. Depend of

• Wrong: It depends of the weather.
• Right: It depends on the weather.
• Why: fixed combination. Others to learn: interested in, good at, afraid of, married to, listen to, wait for, think about.

32. Arrive to

• Wrong: We arrived to the hotel late.
• Right: We arrived at the hotel late. / We arrived in Rome.
• Why: arrive at a building or point; arrive in a city or country. Never arrive to. And no preposition with home: I arrived home.

33. Dates and days with in

• Wrong: My birthday is in 12 May.
• Right: My birthday is on 12 May.
• Why: on for days and dates, in for months and years, at for clock times.

34. Preposition before next and last

• Wrong: I’ll see you on next Friday.
• Right: I’ll see you next Friday.
• Why: no preposition before next, last, this, every.

35. Discuss about

• Wrong: Let’s discuss about the plan.
• Right: Let’s discuss the plan. / Let’s talk about the plan.
• Why: discuss is followed directly by the object. The same goes for enter (enter the room), reach (reach the city) and call (call me).

For in, on, at, see prepositions of time and place.

Pronunciation and spoken English

36. Pronouncing the silent letters

• Wrong: saying the k in know, the b in climb, the l in walk, the w in write
• Right: /nəʊ/, /klaɪm/, /wɔːk/, /raɪt/
• Why: many English letters are silent. Others: listen (no t), island (no s), Wednesday (sounds like Wenz-day), hour (no h).

37. The -ed ending as an extra syllable

• Wrong: saying walked as walk-ed and played as play-ed
• Right: walked /wɔːkt/ (one syllable), played /pleɪd/ (one syllable)
• Why: -ed adds a syllable only after a t or d sound: want-ed, need-ed, start-ed. Everywhere else it is just /t/ or /d/.

38. Wrong stress in common words

• Wrong: DE-ve-lop, pho-TO-graph, com-FOR-ta-ble
• Right: de-VE-lop, PHO-to-graph (but pho-TO-gra-pher), COM-for-ta-ble (often said COMF-ta-ble)
• Why: English word stress is not fixed, and wrong stress can make a word hard to recognise. Check the stress when you learn a new word.

39. Please used for everything

• Wrong: answering Thank you with Please.
• Right: You’re welcome. / No problem. / Not at all.
• Why: please is for requests (A coffee, please). In many languages one word covers both “please” and “you’re welcome”, but in English they are different.

40. Answering negative questions

• Wrong: Don’t you like coffee? – Yes, (meaning “Right, I don’t like it”)
• Right: No, I don’t. (I don’t like it) / Yes, I do. (I like it)
• Why: in English, yes and no refer to the fact, not to whether you agree with the question. If you don’t like it, say no, whatever the form of the question.

Your top mistakes depend on your first language

Many of these mistakes come from translating directly from your first language. Speakers of languages without articles (Russian, Turkish, Indonesian, Vietnamese) often drop a and the. Speakers of Spanish and Portuguese often say I have 25 years and depend of. Speakers of languages without verb endings (Vietnamese, Indonesian) often forget the -s in she works and the -ed in the past. Knowing which group you belong to helps you choose what to fix first.

How to stop making the same mistakes

1. Write down your mistakes. Keep a short list of the sentences you say wrong and the correct version. Read it once a day.
2. Practise the correct form in short sentences. She works. He lives. It costs. Short, out loud, many times.
3. Speak and get feedback. You can’t hear your own mistakes while you are speaking. You need someone (or something) to point them out right after you make them.
4. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Choose two mistakes for this week, and focus only on them.

If you want to practise the past forms of verbs, see the irregular verbs list. For a full review of tenses, see the English tenses chart. And for tips on speaking more naturally, see how to speak English fluently.

FAQ

What is the most common mistake in English?

For most learners, it is the missing -s in the present simple (she work instead of she works). Close behind are articles (a, the), the present perfect with since/for, and question word order.

Do native speakers make these mistakes?

Some, yes. Native speakers often mix fewer and less, who and whom, or lay and lie, and many say gonna or ain’t in casual speech. But the mistakes in this list are typical for learners and sound unnatural to native ears.

Is it bad to make mistakes when speaking?

No. Mistakes are a normal part of learning, and people will understand you even with small errors. The goal is to make fewer mistakes over time, not to stop speaking until you are perfect.

How can I find my own mistakes?

Record yourself speaking for two minutes and listen back, or talk to someone who will correct you. Most people are surprised: they make the same three or four mistakes again and again.

Practise without the mistakes

Reading a list of mistakes helps, but the real change happens when you speak and someone corrects you right away. In the conversation linked below this article, you can talk freely with Nomi in Nomto about your day, your work or your plans. If you say She work in a bank or I live here since 2019, Nomi shows you the correct sentence immediately, so you notice the mistake while it’s still fresh.

Try to start with these and listen for your own errors:

1. Tell me about a person in your family. What do they do? (watch the -s)
2. How long have you lived in your city? (watch since and for)
3. What did you do yesterday? (watch the past forms after did)

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