Common English mistakes by Russians

This page shows you some of the most common English mistakes by Russians when speaking or writing in English. I hope you find it useful!

Mistakes

It’s too busy place

We should to go maybe at morning

I don’t know where we been last week

Solutions

It’s too busy. It’s such a busy place.

Maybe we should go in the morning.

Should = modal verb. Don’t write ‘to’ after modal verbs.

Can, will, would, could, may, might etc. to

I don’t know where we were last week

Been = past participle (3rd column). Been should only come after ‘have/has/had’

Mistakes

I will be in Germany 2 weeks

They went to supermarket and they bought chicken

The fly is 9 hours

It's a big way from Moscow to Tokyo

Last time I like to read story of Russia

How many children Ivan had?

He killed him son Dmitry

Solutions

I will be in Germany for 2 weeks

They went to the supermarket and they bought chicken

The flight is 9 hours

Fly = verb. Flight = noun.

It's a long way from Moscow to Tokyo

Recently I have enjoyed reading stories about Russia

Present perfect = subject + have + past participle. From the past until now.

Enjoy + verbing

How many children did Ivan have?

Past simple question

He killed his son Dmitry

I like his car. His house. His job. Use ‘His’ for possessions.

Mistakes

We have some shop in nother village and city

We have to invited employees...

All men was drinking

They has children which often...

Solutions

We have some shops in other villages and cities

We have to invite employees...

All men were drinking

Lots of men = they = they + were + verbing = past continuous

They have children who often...

Mistakes

We went to birthday party

She has 4 years

I never been party like this

We little bit late for this workshop

We started some activity and trainer told us you have...

My father always quiet

My husband more talkative than me

Do you like read a book?

I'm like read a book

It's very disappoint me

Solutions

We went to a birthday party

Say ‘a’ because ‘party’ is a singular noun and I don’t know whose party it is.

She is 4 years

I have never been to a party like this.

Go/went/been/gone + to

Subject + have + past participle = present perfect tense = from a specific time in the past until now. Use present perfect with: So far, this week, this year, this morning, until now.

We were a little bit late for this workshop

A bit...

We started some activities and the trainer told us you have…

We say ‘the’ because he/she is a specific trainer and I know which trainer you are talking about

My father is always quiet

My husband is more talkative than me

Do you like reading books?

Like + to + infinitive or like + verbing

If you are talking about something in general, use the plural form

I like reading books

It disappointed me or it’s very disappointing

Mistakes

It was very interest for me

When we should decide about his school. How can we say this in the past?

She call me and say

You feel yourselves without force

It helps to us

I have many work

I prefer don’t press my opinion in such deals

Some times ago we suggest

Her boss said her

She is very happy of her decision

Solutions

It was very interesting for me

Adjectives ending -ed describe how you feel and adjectives ending -ing describe what creates the feeling

I am bored or the film is boring

I am interested because the book is interesting

When we had to decide about his school. This means when it was necessary to decide. We can only use should in the past for hypothetical situations, 'I should have started at 1pm but I was late'.

She called me and said

You feel yourselves without force strength

It helps to us

It is helpful for us

I have much any work (‘work’ is an uncountable noun)

I prefer not to don’t press my opinion in such topics deals

Some times ago we suggested verbing

Her boss said to her

She is very happy with of her decision

Mistakes

I feel myself like in Sanitorium

Everybody think that it’s the end of life

We wait this day

Most of Russians not have a fast

When we were more younger we...

It’s not about eat, you should pray...

It’s difficult to concentrate to the mystical things

They decide to go to monastery with all family

Solutions

I feel myself like I am in the a Sanitorium

We don't normally say 'myself' after 'I feel'. Some more examples are:

'I feel sick' and 'I feel like    going outside/eating chocolate'

'I look at myself in the mirror'

'I do my homework myself (without any help)'

'I’m eating by myself (without anybody else / alone)'

Everybody thinks that it’s the end of their life

We are waiting for this day

We normally say 'waiting for somebody/something'

Most of Russians don’t fast

When we were younger we…

It’s not only about eating, but you should pray…

After a preposition write a verbing

It’s difficult to concentrate on the mystical things

'concentrate' collocates with the preposition 'on'. Here are some more examples:

I’m concentrating on the television

I’m concentrating on my book

They decided to go to the monastery with the whole family. 'All' and 'whole' are commonly confused. I talk about this in more detail on this page. This is another useful page explaining the differences.