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

If your first language is Italian, many of your English mistakes follow Italian grammar, Italian sounds and a long list of false friends. Linguists call this transfer. It is not carelessness, and each pattern has a clear fix.

The big ones. 1) "I have 30 years" (ho 30 anni) → "I'm 30". 2) The present with "since" (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) Word order: "I like very much the pizza" → "I really like pizza". 5) "Make" for everything (fare): "make a photo", "make a question", "make a party" → "take a photo", "ask a question", "have a party". 6) False friends: "actually" ≠ attualmente ("currently"), "eventually" ≠ eventualmente ("possibly"), "sympathetic" ≠ simpatico ("nice"), "educated" ≠ educato ("polite"), "parents" ≠ parenti ("relatives"), "library" ≠ libreria ("bookstore"), "argument" ≠ argomento ("topic"), "factory" ≠ fattoria ("farm"). 7) Double negatives: "I don't know nothing" → "I don't know anything". 8) Prepositions: "explain me", "depend from", "married with" → "explain to me", "depend on", "married to". 9) An extra vowel after a final consonant: "big-uh", "stop-uh" → stop on the consonant. 10) Sounds: the dropped "h" ("I ate" for "I hate"), "th" said as "t" or "d" ("tink", "dis"), and one vowel for both "ship" and "sheep".

Reading the list is the easy part. These habits only show up when you speak, so that is where to work on them: say the sentence, see the correction, say it again. Airi is a voice AI partner for that. You talk, she answers out loud, shows one small fix at a time and keeps the conversation going. The sections below add the patterns this list leaves out and a short routine for practicing them. It is free to start.

A quick example with Airi

I work in Milan since ten years.

Ten years, so you must know the city well! Small fix: "I've worked in Milan for ten years." What do you do there?

I've worked in Milan for ten years. I'm an architect, and my boss is very sympathetic. We laugh a lot.

That sounds like a fun office. Small fix: "sympathetic" means showing compassion, so for someone who is fun to be around, say "my boss is really nice." What are you working on right now?

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

Italian phrases that go wrong when translated word for word

Each sentence on the left is correct Italian wearing English words. English picks a different verb or structure, so learn the natural version as a whole phrase.

Italian speakers often say	Natural English	What Italian does
I'm agree with you.	I agree with you.	"Sono d'accordo" is built with "essere" (to be). In English, "agree" is already the verb.
You have reason.	You're right.	"Hai ragione" is built with "avere" (to have).
We are in five.	There are five of us.	"Siamo in cinque", word for word.
I lost the train.	I missed the train.	"Perdere" covers both "lose" and "miss": "ho perso il treno".
Let's take a coffee.	Let's get a coffee.	"Prendere un caffè": Italian "takes" food and drink. English has or gets them.
Can you bring me to the airport?	Can you take me to the airport?	"Portare" covers both. English uses "bring" toward the speaker or listener and "take" to anywhere else.
I feel a strange noise.	I hear a strange noise.	"Sentire" covers hear, feel and smell.
She said me to wait.	She told me to wait.	"Dire" covers both "say" and "tell". "Tell" is the one that takes a person: "tell me", "say something".
I remember you that we start at nine.	Just to remind you, we start at nine.	"Ricordare" covers both "remember" and "remind". You remember something yourself; you remind another person.

Italian grammar habits that do not carry over into English

The present perfect for finished events. In everyday spoken Italian, most of all in the north, finished events go in the passato prossimo ("ieri ho visto Marco"), which looks like the English present perfect. That gives "I have seen Marco yesterday." With a finished time such as "yesterday" or "last week", English uses the simple past: "I saw Marco yesterday."
One present tense for now, plans and promises. The Italian present covers all three: "Cosa fai stasera?", "Domani vado dal dentista", "Ti chiamo dopo". That gives "What do you do tonight?", "Tomorrow I go to the dentist" and "I call you later." English says "What are you doing tonight?", "I'm going to the dentist tomorrow" and "I'll call you later."
No "it". Italian leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending shows who is meant: "piove", "è difficile da spiegare". That gives "Is raining" and "Is difficult to explain." An English statement needs a subject, even an empty one: "It's raining", "It's difficult to explain."
Questions and short answers without "do". Italian turns a statement into a yes/no question with intonation alone, so "You like sushi?" and the answer "Yes, I like" feel complete. English says "Do you like sushi?" and answers "Yes, I do" or "Yes, I like it."
Articles in the wrong places. Italian puts an article before a possessive and leaves it out before a job: "la mia macchina", "sono ingegnere". That gives "the my car" and "I'm engineer." English says "my car" and "I'm an engineer."
"His" and "her" chosen by the wrong noun. "Suo" and "sua" agree with the thing owned, not with the owner, so "Maria e suo marito" can come out as "Maria and his husband." English picks the word by the owner: "Maria and her husband", "Marco and his wife".
Uncountable nouns that are plural in Italian. "Informazioni", "consigli" and "capelli" are plural, which gives "informations", "advices" and "her hairs are long". In English these stay singular: "some information", "a piece of advice", "Her hair is long."

English sounds Italian speakers find hard, and how to make them

Standard Italian has seven vowel sounds and English has roughly twice as many. Italian also has no "h" sound and no weak vowel like the "a" in "about", its spelling follows its sounds closely, and most of its words end in a vowel. A rolled "r" is part of an accent, not an error; the rows below are the points more likely to confuse a listener.

Sound	Practice words	How to make it
"h" at the start of a word	hair / air, heat / eat, hold / old	Breathe out gently, as if fogging a mirror, and start the vowel in the same breath. The opposite slip is adding an "h" that is not there: "go away", not "go haway".
"th"	three / tree, then / den	Rest the tongue tip lightly against the edge of the top teeth and let the air keep flowing. A "t" or "d" stops the air; "th" does not.
The vowels in "ship" and "sheep"	ship / sheep, fill / feel, live / leave	Both tend to come out as Italian "i". For "sheep", spread the lips and hold the vowel. For "ship", relax the lips, lower the jaw slightly and keep the sound short.
The vowels in "cat" and "cut"	hat / hut, cap / cup, match / much	Both tend to come out as Italian "a". For "hat", open the jaw and spread the lips. For "hut", leave the mouth almost at rest and keep the sound short, like a quick "uh". Drop the "h" as well and "hungry" turns into "angry".
The weak vowel in unstressed syllables	lemon, problem, about	Italian says unstressed vowels as clearly as stressed ones. English shrinks most of them to a quick, relaxed "uh": "LEM-un", "PROB-lum", "uh-BOUT".
"s" before l, m and n	sleep, small, snow	In Italian, "s" before these consonants is voiced like a "z", as in "slitta" and "smettere". In English it stays a voiceless hiss: "sss-leep", "sss-mall".
Silent letters and "-ed"	walked, talked, could, boiled	Italian spelling is a reliable guide to the sound; English spelling is not. There is no "l" sound in "walk", "talk" or "could". And "-ed" is a separate syllable only after "t" or "d": "wanted" has two syllables, but "walked" ("wawkt") and "boiled" have one.

Italian-English false friends beyond "actually", plus pseudo-English words such as "footing"

These Italian and English words look alike, but their everyday meanings differ. The middle column shows the English look-alike and, in brackets, the Italian word for what that look-alike means.

Italian word	Looks like	Usually means
sensibile	sensible ("ragionevole")	sensitive: "He's sensitive to criticism."
pretendere	pretend ("fingere")	expect or demand: "You can't expect me to work every weekend."
confrontare	confront ("affrontare")	compare: "Let's compare the two offers."
annoiato	annoyed ("infastidito")	bored: "I got bored halfway through the movie."
delusione	delusion ("illusione")	disappointment: "The ending was a real disappointment."
rumore	rumor ("voce")	noise: "What's that noise?"
largo	large ("grande")	wide: "The street is wide enough for two cars."
controllare	control	check, when you mean verify: "Let me check my email." Keep "control" for being in charge: "She controls the budget."

A second trap is English-looking words that Italian uses with a meaning of its own. They are everyday words in Italy, but English speakers will not take them the way you mean them:

"Footing" is jogging.
A "smoking" is a tuxedo.
A "box" for the car is a garage.
A "golf" is a sweater.
The "mister" of a soccer team is the coach.
A "beauty farm" is a spa.
"Smart working" is remote work, or working from home.
A "stage" at a company is an internship. The word is borrowed from French, not English.

Drilling Italian transfer mistakes out loud with Airi

Knowing a rule is different from getting it right at speaking speed. Airi answers out loud and shows one small fix at a time, so you see the natural version while your own sentence is still fresh. She does not grade your accent or your sounds. For the sound pairs, all you can check 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 short pass through these steps.

Start with: "Italian is my first language. Please point out when I say 'I'm agree', use the present perfect with 'yesterday', or leave out 'it'."
Tell her what you did last weekend. Every sentence needs the simple past: "I went", "I saw", "we walked".
Tell her your plans for tomorrow in the form English uses for arrangements: "I'm meeting a client at ten."
Ask her three questions that begin with "Do", "Does" or "Did", and answer hers with "Yes, I do" or "No, I didn't."
Say that you are hungry, then say what makes you angry. If her reply shows she heard the wrong word, say the sentence again with a clear "h".
When a small fix appears for one of these Italian habits, say the corrected sentence out loud once, then carry on.
Next time, pick three rows from the tables above and work them into what you say. She remembers your name and your last topic.

How to get the most from it

Age uses 'be'

I'm 35. I'm hungry. Never 'have'.

Stop on the consonant

Big, stop, Facebook — no vowel after the last sound.

Simpatico is 'nice'

'Sympathetic' means compassionate. Ask Airi about any false friend.

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Frequently asked questions

Why do Italian speakers add a vowel to the end of English words?

Most Italian words end in a vowel, so a final consonant can feel unfinished and a short "uh" slips in after it: "big-uh", "stop-uh". It is transfer from Italian, not carelessness. To practice, finish the consonant and stop, or link it straight to a following vowel: "big apple", "stop it".

Which Italian-English false friends are the easiest to miss?

The ones that still make a normal English sentence, because nobody stops you. "I'm annoyed" for "sono annoiato" says you are irritated, not bored. "She's very sensible" for "è molto sensibile" praises her judgment instead of describing her feelings. "He's very educated" for "è molto educato" says he has had a lot of schooling, not that he is polite. The listener understands the sentence, just not the way you meant it.

Why is the English present perfect hard for Italian speakers?

Because the mismatch runs in both directions. The passato prossimo ("ho visto") looks like "I have seen", but in everyday speech it reports finished events, where English uses the simple past: "I saw her yesterday." And where English does need the present perfect, for something that started in the past and is still true, Italian uses the present with "da": "lavoro qui da due anni" is "I've worked here for two years."

Is it bad to speak English with an Italian accent?

No. An accent is not a mistake, and a rolled "r" is unlikely to stop anyone from understanding you. What is worth practicing is the short list of habits that can turn one word into another: the "h" in "hungry", the vowels in "cat" and "cut" or "ship" and "sheep", and stopping cleanly on a final consonant.

Can I practice with Airi in Italian?

No. Airi talks and shows her small fixes in English only. It still helps to tell her that Italian is your first language and to name the patterns you want her to watch for.

Is Airi available in Italy?

Yes. Airi runs in a web browser on a phone or laptop, so there is nothing to install. You start with 600 free credits when you sign up with Google, about eight minutes of speaking. After that there are one-off packs of 2,600, 7,200 or 17,000 credits for USD 5, 10 or 20, with no subscription.

Last updated: 2026-10-03