Typical mistakes of Arabic speakers. Learn English with Free English Study Pages from The Language Project UK

1. it's not so warm in bristol at this time of year

1. It's not so warm in Bristol at this time of year.
We need a capital letter for the first word of a sentence and for city names.

2. When you arrived in UK?

2. When did you arrive in the UK?
We use the auxilliary verb "did" and use the word order Auxillairy - Subject - Verb

3. The shop assistant in the CD chop he was really helpful.

3. The shop assistant in the CD shop was very helpful.
The verb "was" only needs one subject (the shop assistant).

4. The phone rang twice while I was eat dinner.

4. The phone rang twice while I was eating dinner.
We need the past continuous tense here (verb be + -ing).

5. I drive for two years now.

5. I have been driving for two years now.
Use present perfect continuous tense for an action continuing up the present.

6. Where you going out tonight?

6. Where are you going out tonight?
We need the verb be (are) in a present continuous question.

7. I think your mum's wonderful person.

7. I think your mum's a wonderful person.
We need the indefinite article "a" before a singular noun.

8. I going to London on saturday morning.

8. I'm going to London on Saturday morning.
Verb "be" in present continuous. Capital letters for days of the week.

9. I don't usually eat much for breakfast.

9. Correct.

10. I had to go to the supermarket at lunchtime for buy some food.

10. I had to go to the supermarket at lunchtime to buy some food.
The full infinitive (with to) shows the purpose of an action.

11. That's the man who I saw him this morning.

11. That's the man who I saw this morning.
We don't need to repeat the object in an object relative clause.

12. He's the new teacher, is that not so?

12. He's the new teacher isn't he ?
"Is that not so?" is very old fashioned. Nowadays we use a tag question.

Click to hide all answers.

Click to show all answers.

Get More Pages Of Typical Mistakes

We have two more pages of typical mistakes in your language. You can download them and print them out. Then you can learn them so you will never make the same mistakes.

To get more pages, please write your information in the spaces below and then click the "Send Information" button. Then, you will see a page with a link to download the two pages of typical mistakes for Arabic speakers.



First Name:		Family Name:

Your Country:		E-mail Address:

Your Age:		Please Select:

If you would like us to send you more information about new things on the website, special offers and courses at The Language Project, tick this box: Please note: The Language Project will not pass your information on to any other person or organisation. If you do not tick this box, we will not store your information. If you do tick this box we will only e-mail you once or twice a year.

For more typical mistakes, click this button:

Typical Mistakes For Arabic Speakers

Home Page | Site Map


This page is to help English students from Arabic-speaking countries or if your first language is Arabic. In the past many Chinese students have come to our school to learn English. These are some of their errors. Look through these sentences. Eleven of them contain typical mistakes that Arabic speakers make when they speak or write English. One of the sentences is correct. The mistakes are in grammar, vocabulary, spelling and logic. Some sentences have many mistakes and some sentences have only one error.
Try to find the mistakes in each sentence. Click the "Check" button to see the correct sentence and explanation. Please note: this page uses Java Script to display and hide the answers. If your browser doesn't have Java Script or if you have Java Script turned off on your browser, you will not be able to use this page.