25 Common English Mistakes Learners Make (and Fixes)

Every learner makes the same mistakes — which is good news, because they’re easy to list and fix. Here are the 20 most common ones, grouped by type.

Verb mistakes

1. He work here → He works here — never forget the third-person -s.

2. I am agree → I agree — “agree” is a verb, not an adjective.

3. I am here since Monday → I have been here since Monday — use present perfect for “unfinished” time.

4. Yesterday I have seen him → Yesterday I saw him — finished time (yesterday, last week, in 2010) takes past simple, never present perfect.

5. She suggested me to go → She suggested that I go / She advised me to go — “suggest” doesn’t take an object + infinitive.

Uncountable noun mistakes

These nouns have no plural in English — use “some” or “a piece of”:

6. advices → advice (some advice / a piece of advice)

7. informations → information

8. furnitures → furniture

9. a news → news — looks plural, is singular: The news is good.

10. homeworks → homework

Its/it’s and friends

11. its vs. it’s: it’s = it is (It’s raining); its = belonging to it (The cat licked its paw).

12. your vs. you’re: you’re = you are (You’re right); your = possession (your bag).

13. there/their/they’re: there = place; their = possession; they’re = they are.

Preposition mistakes

14. married with → married to — She is married to Ahmed.

15. discuss about → discuss — “discuss” already means “talk about”: We discussed the plan.

16. depends of → depends on

17. listen music → listen to music

Word order & structure

18. I like very much it → I like it very much — object comes before the degree phrase.

19. She is enough tall → She is tall enough — “enough” goes after adjectives, before nouns: enough time.

20. How to say…? → How do you say…? / How should I put it…? — questions need a subject.

Collocation & “false friend” mistakes

21. make homework / do a mistake → swap them: do homework, but make a mistake. Rule of thumb: make = create/produce (make dinner, make money, make a decision); do = tasks and activities (do the dishes, do exercise, do business).

22. say me / tell to me → both wrong differently: tell me (tell + person), but say it to me (say + thing + to + person). She told me the truth. She said it to my face.

23. I am boring → I am bored — -ed describes how YOU feel, -ing describes the thing causing it: The film was boring, so I was bored. Same family: interested/interesting, tired/tiring, embarrassed/embarrassing.

24. I live here since two years → I have lived here for two years — since + starting point (since 2020, since Monday); for + duration (for two years, for a long time). And “ago” goes backward: two years ago, never “before two years” in this meaning.

25. Can you borrow me your pen? → Can you lend me your pen? / Can I borrow your pen? — borrow = take from someone; lend = give to someone. The direction of the object decides the verb.

Sound-alike spelling traps

Beyond grammar, a few spelling pairs trip everyone: loose (not tight) vs. lose (misplace); quiet vs. quite; their/there/they’re (above); and advice (noun) vs. advise (verb — pronounced with a ‘z’ sound). When in doubt, say the sentence aloud: your ear often catches what your eye misses.

The pattern behind most mistakes

Almost every error above comes from translating your native language word-for-word. The fix isn’t more grammar rules — it’s learning phrases as whole chunks (“married to”, “it depends on”) until the English pattern feels automatic.