Common English mistakes Hindi speakers make, and how to fix them for a global audience

First, a fair note: Indian English is an established variety of English, and several things on this page, such as "prepone" or "What is your good name?", are ordinary usage in India. But when you speak to listeners elsewhere (a US client, a UK interviewer, a team in Singapore), some Hindi-influenced patterns can cause misunderstanding or sound informal. Those are the ones worth adjusting.

The big ones. 1) Continuous forms of stative verbs: "I am having two brothers", "I am knowing him" → "I have two brothers", "I know him". 2) Questions without inversion: "What you are doing?" → "What are you doing?" 3) One tag for every sentence: "You are coming, isn't it?" → "You are coming, aren't you?" 4) Words used mainly in South Asia: "prepone" (bring forward), "do the needful" (please take care of it), "revert" (reply), "out of station" (out of town), "passed out" (graduated; elsewhere it means fainted), "today morning" (this morning). 5) "Only" and "itself" for emphasis: "I'm from Delhi only" → "I'm from Delhi". 6) An extra word: "discuss about", "cope up with", "return back" → "discuss", "cope with", "return". 7) Introductions: "Myself Rahul" → "I'm Rahul". 8) Uncountable nouns made plural: "furnitures", "staffs", "advices" → "furniture", "staff", "advice". 9) "V" and "w" said as one sound, so "vest" and "west" come out the same. 10) Rhythm: Indian English tends to give every syllable similar weight, while listeners elsewhere expect one strong syllable in each word: "deVELopment", "comPUter".

Knowing the list is the easy part. What helps is saying the new sentence yourself in a real exchange and seeing the fix straight away. That is how Airi works: you talk, she answers out loud, shows one small fix at a time and keeps the conversation going. It is free to start, with no card.

A quick example with Airi

I am having five years of experience in sales.

That's solid experience! Small fix: "I have five years of experience in sales." Where did you study?

I have five years of experience in sales. I passed out from Delhi University in 2019.

Got it. For an international interviewer, say "I graduated from Delhi University in 2019." Outside South Asia, "passed out" means fainted. What did you study there?

Try a conversation like this, free600 free credits, about 8 minutes of speaking. No card.

Hindi-to-English slips, and the Hindi sentence behind each

None of these is random. Each is a correct Hindi sentence carried into English one word at a time, so the Hindi underneath shows you exactly which word to swap.

Often said	Natural English	The Hindi behind it
I am living here since five years.	I have been living here for five years.	"Main paanch saal se yahan rah raha hoon" is present continuous, and "se" covers both "since" and "for". English uses "for" with a length of time and "since" with a starting point: "since 2020".
Close the light.	Turn off the light.	"Band karna" means to close, to shut and to switch off.
I am giving my exam tomorrow.	I am taking my exam tomorrow.	In Hindi the student gives the exam: "pariksha dena". In English the student takes it and the teacher gives it.
What is your good name?	What's your name? / May I ask your name?	A word-for-word version of the polite Hindi "Aapka shubh naam kya hai?" "Shubh" means auspicious, and English has no matching word here.
I met one man at the station.	I met a man at the station.	"Ek" is the number one and also does the work of "a". In English, "one man" stresses the number: one, not two.
She is doctor. I am going to office.	She is a doctor. I am going to the office.	Hindi has no word for "the" and often leaves out "ek", so the sentence already feels complete.
My sister is an engineer. He works in a bank.	My sister is an engineer. She works in a bank.	"Vah" ("woh" in speech) means he, she and it; Hindi shows gender on the verb instead. At speed, "he" can slip out for a woman.

Hindi postpositions and the English prepositions they turn into

Hindi places these small words after the noun, and each one covers several English prepositions. Translating the postposition directly often picks the wrong one, so learn the English preposition as part of the phrase: "married to", "good at".

Hindi word	Slip	Natural English
se (from, with, by, than, since)	She is married with a doctor. I am afraid from dogs.	She is married to a doctor. I am afraid of dogs.
par (on, at)	He is angry on me. We sat on the table for dinner.	He is angry with me. We sat at the table for dinner.
mein (in)	I was in the bus. She is good in math.	I was on the bus. She is good at math.

Small Hindi words that leave a mark on English: hi, bhi and na

"Hi" becomes "only" or "itself". "Mujhe yeh aaj hi chahiye" comes out as "I need this today only" or "today itself". To listeners elsewhere, "today only" means "on no other day". English puts this emphasis in the voice, or adds a word such as "right" or "just": "I need this today", "right now", "just yesterday".
"Bhi" becomes "also" in every position. "Mujhe bhi nahin pata" comes out as "I don't know also". In a negative sentence English puts "either" at the end instead: "I don't know either". The short reply is "Me too", or "Me neither" after a negative, not "Me also".
"Na" and "hai na" become one tag. A Hindi tag never changes, which is where "isn't it?" and "no?" after every statement come from. An English tag reuses the helping verb, or "do", "does" or "did" when there is none, and switches it between positive and negative: "You're coming, aren't you?", "She called, didn't she?" If that is too much at speed, "right?" works after almost any statement.
Doubled words. "Chhote chhote tukde" gives "small small pieces", and "alag alag" gives "different different". English says the word once and lets the plural do the work: "small pieces", "different colors".

English sounds that Hindi merges or reshapes, and how to make them

Hindi has a large set of consonants, so most English sounds are already within reach. The trouble is a few contrasts that Hindi treats as one sound or replaces with a near neighbor. Not every speaker has all of them.

Contrast	Say both	How to make the difference
v and w	vest / west, vine / wine	Hindi व sits between the two: the lower lip comes near the top teeth, with no buzz. For "v", rest the top teeth on the lower lip and buzz. For "w", round the lips as for "oo" and keep the teeth away from the lip.
"th" in "thin" and "they"	thin / tin, they / day	Hindi थ and द are made at the teeth too, but they are stops: the tongue blocks the air, then releases it. For English "th", keep the tongue tip lightly at the edge of the top teeth and let the air flow without a block.
z and j	raise / rage, buzz / budge	In Hindi, ज़ is a borrowed sound and many speakers replace it with ज. "Z" is "s" with the voice switched on: hold "sss" and add a buzz. The tongue never presses against the roof of the mouth as it does for "j". Check "zero", "easy" and "busy".
f and Hindi "ph" (फ)	fan / pan, fool / pool	Hindi फ is "p" with a puff of air, and some speakers use it for English "f". "F" has no burst: the top teeth rest on the lower lip and air hisses through; the lips never close. English "ph" is this same "f", as in "phone" and "photo".
p and k at the start of a word	pin / bin, coat / goat	English adds a puff of air here, the one you already use in "phal" and "khana". Without it, listeners may hear "bin" and "goat". Hold your palm in front of your mouth: you should feel the puff on "pin" and not on "bin".

A short Airi drill for Hindi-speaker habits

Airi answers out loud and shows one small fix at a time, so each pattern gets practiced inside a real sentence. She does not score pronunciation. For the sound pairs, the only signal is whether her reply shows she understood the word you meant, and that is a rough check. The free credits cover about eight minutes, enough for one pass through these steps.

Set the target: "Hindi is my first language. Please point out when I say 'since five years', 'I am having' or 'today only'."
Have her ask how long you have lived in your city, done your job and studied English. Each answer needs "I have ... for ...": "I have lived here for five years."
Describe three people in your family: their jobs, who each is married to and what each is good at. That calls for "a", "he" or "she", "married to" and "good at".
Use a sound pair on purpose: "I'd like a very warm vest and a glass of wine." If her reply shows she heard a different word, slow down and say it again.
When a small fix appears, repeat the corrected sentence once before you go on.

How to get the most from it

No -ing on "have" (possession) or "know"

I have two brothers. I know him. "I'm having" is for meals and experiences: "I'm having lunch."

Keep a global version of local words ready

Prepone → bring forward; revert → reply; passed out → graduated.

Check "v" and "w" in a mirror

For "very" the top teeth touch the lower lip. For "well" the lips round and the teeth stay out of it. A mirror shows which one you made.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Indian English wrong?

No. Indian English is an established variety with its own vocabulary and rhythm, and expressions such as "do the needful" or "out of station" are normal in India. Other items here, such as a dropped article or "he" for a woman, are slips in any variety. The page is about what can confuse listeners elsewhere, so you can switch when it matters: interviews, clients and exams.

Do IELTS examiners penalize these patterns?

It depends on the pattern. According to ielts.org, IELTS Speaking is marked on four criteria: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. Forms such as "I am having two brothers" or "What you are doing?" are likely to be counted as errors under grammatical range and accuracy. Pronunciation is described there as speaking in a way that can be understood without too much effort, so an accent matters only where it makes you harder to understand.

Why do Hindi speakers mix up v and w?

Hindi has one sound here, written व, where English has two. It can come out closer to "v" or closer to "w" depending on the sounds around it, and because the difference never changes the meaning of a Hindi word, speakers usually do not notice it. English uses the two to tell words apart, as in "vest" and "west", so the two mouth positions have to be learned separately.

Can I practice with Airi in Hindi?

No. Airi speaks and corrects in English only. You can tell her that Hindi is your first language and ask her to watch for particular patterns from this page.

Is Airi available in India?

Yes. Airi runs in the browser on a phone or laptop, with nothing to install. You start with 600 free credits when you sign up with Google, about eight minutes of speaking, and no card is needed. After that there are one-off credit packs at USD 5, 10 and 20, and no subscription.

Last updated: 2026-10-03