Common Mistakes Arabic Speakers Make in English (and Quick Fixes)

By Dr. Ahmed Hamdy · Founder & Editor at Nest English

Every language background produces its own signature mistakes, and knowing yours is a shortcut. The good news is that these patterns are systematic rather than random: the same errors recur across millions of learners, which means identifying them saves you years of scattered correction.

The missing article. Many languages have no indefinite article, so 'a/an' disappears: 'I am teacher' instead of 'I am a teacher', 'She has car' instead of 'She has a car'. The working rule is simple — every singular countable noun needs a determiner in front of it: a, an, the, my, this. Never leave a singular noun bare.

The dropped linking verb. Plenty of languages form complete sentences without 'be': the equivalent of 'She happy' or 'The room very big' is perfectly grammatical in them. English has no sentence without a verb, so if you cannot find one in your sentence, the missing piece is usually a form of 'be'.

The extra definite article. The opposite problem, and just as common: 'The life is hard', 'I like the music', 'The money is important'. English drops the article when speaking about a concept in general — Life is hard, I like music, Money matters.

Prepositions transferred literally. This is what exposes mental translation fastest, because prepositions do not map between languages at all. It is afraid of, not afraid from; married to, not married from; depend on, not depend from; listen to, not listen; arrive at or in, not arrive to; and discuss takes no preposition at all, so never discuss about. Treat a verb and its preposition as one unit to be memorised together, not as a verb for which you choose a preposition by logic.

The doubled subject. 'My brother he works in Dubai' comes from topic-comment structure, where a noun may be announced and then referred to again by a pronoun. English wants exactly one subject per verb, so delete the pronoun.

Why do these survive for years? Because none of them blocks communication. Whoever hears you understands you, so nobody corrects you, and the habit sets. That is precisely why they persist even in advanced speakers.

The fix is not to review all the grammar again. Hunt one pattern at a time: pick a single error from this list and watch for it in your speech and writing for one week only. Most of these patterns disappear within a month of deliberate attention, because the problem was never ignorance of the rule — it was a habit nobody ever pointed out.