Common English mistakes Italian speakers make, and how to fix them

If your first language is Italian, your English mistakes follow Italian grammar, sounds and a long list of false friends. They're transfer, not carelessness — and each one has a clear fix.

The big ones. 1) "I have 30 years" (ho 30 anni) → "I'm 30". 2) "Since" with the present (da): "I live here since five years" → "I've lived here for five years". 3) "The" for general ideas: "the life is beautiful" → "life is beautiful"; and "people is" (la gente è) → "people are". 4) Adjective after the noun and "very much" in the wrong place: "I like very much the pizza" → "I like pizza very much". 5) "Make" for everything (fare): "make a photo", "make a question", "make sport" → take, ask, do. 6) False friends: "actually" (attualmente = currently), "eventually" (eventualmente = possibly), "sympathetic" (simpatico = nice), "educated" (educato = polite), "parents" (parenti = relatives), "library" (libreria = bookshop), "argument" (argomento = topic), "factory" (fattoria = farm), "camera" (= room), "morbid" (morbido = soft). 7) Double negatives: "I don't know nothing" → "anything". 8) "Explain me", "depend from", "married with" → "explain to me", "depend on", "married to". 9) Extra vowel after final consonants: "big-a", "Facebook-a", "stop-a" — end on the consonant. 10) Sounds: the dropped "h" ("I ate" for "I hate"), "th" as /t/ or /d/ ("tink", "dis"), and ship/sheep, full/fool vowel length.

A list won't fix these; making them out loud and being corrected in the moment will. Airi is built for that: she hears the pattern, fixes the one mistake that matters in her reply, and keeps the conversation going. Speak with her daily and these stop being habits within a few weeks. Free to start, no card.

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