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

If your first language is Turkish, many of your English mistakes follow Turkish grammar and sounds: one pronoun for he, she and it, no word for "the", no plural after numbers, and no "w" or "th" sounds. They are transfer from a first language, not carelessness, and each one has a clear fix.

The big ones. 1) He/she/it mixed ("o" covers all three): "My mother… he" → "she". 2) Missing articles: "I am teacher" → "I'm a teacher"; "I saw film" → "I saw a film". 3) No plural after numbers ("üç kitap"): "three book" → "three books". 4) Questions without inversion (Turkish adds the particle "mi" and keeps the word order): "You are coming?" → "Are you coming?". 5) "Open/close the light" (aç/kapat) → "turn the light on/off". 6) "Since" for "for": "I live here since three years" → "I've lived here for three years". 7) Dropped "is/are" (Turkish uses an ending, and often nothing at all for "he" or "she"): "He very tired" → "He's very tired". 8) "Explain me", "I'm agree" → "explain it to me", "I agree". 9) Sounds: "w" said as "v" ("vater" for "water"), "th" as "t" or "d" ("tink", "dis"), and a helping vowel in or before a cluster ("sıtres" for "stress", "isport"). 10) Vowels: "bat/bet", "ship/sheep". English vowel differences carry meaning, so keep them distinct.

Reading a list does not change a habit. What helps is saying the sentences out loud and seeing the correction while you are still talking. Airi is a voice AI partner for that: you speak, she answers out loud, shows one small fix at a time and keeps the conversation going. The sections below go further than this list: literal translations, case endings that turn into the wrong preposition, sounds to drill and false friends. Free to start, no card.

A quick example with Airi

My sister is a doctor. He works in a big hospital in Izmir.

A doctor in the family, nice! Small fix: for your sister, say "She works in a big hospital." What kind of doctor is she?

She works in a big hospital. She is a children's doctor since three years.

So she looks after kids. Small fix: "She has been a children's doctor for three years." Does she enjoy it?

She has been a children's doctor for three years. Yes, she loves it, but she is always tired.

I can imagine. Hospital shifts are long! Do you two get to see each other often?

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

Literal translations from Turkish to unlearn: almak, içmek, yapmak, çok

Some slips are well-built English sentences in which a Turkish word has been translated by its other meaning, or a Turkish phrase has been carried over piece by piece. The grammar is fine, but the listener hears something you did not mean.

Turkish speakers often say	Natural English	What Turkish does
I took a new phone last week.	I bought a new phone last week.	"Almak" means both "take" and "buy".
I don't drink cigarettes.	I don't smoke.	"Sigara içmek": "içmek" means "drink" and, with tobacco, "smoke".
I make sport three times a week.	I work out three times a week.	"Spor yapmak": "yapmak" is both "do" and "make". English says "work out", "exercise" or "play sports"; British English also says "do sport".
The concert was too good.	The concert was really good.	"Çok" covers "very", "a lot" and "too". In English, "too" means more than is good: "too loud", "too expensive".
I feel myself tired today.	I feel tired today.	"Kendimi yorgun hissediyorum" includes "kendimi" (myself). English "feel" takes no "myself" here.
I'll call you two days later.	I'll call you in two days.	"İki gün sonra". Counting from now, English uses "in". "Later" counts from a moment in a story: "He left on Monday and came back two days later."

Where Turkish case endings and English prepositions disagree

Turkish shows place and direction with an ending on the noun, and each Turkish verb decides which ending its object takes. Carried into English, that ending becomes the wrong preposition, an extra one, or none at all.

One ending, three prepositions. "Evde", "masada" and "çantada" all take -de/-da. English says "at home", "on the table" and "in the bag".
An extra "to". "Eve gidiyorum" and "ona sordum" carry the -e/-a ending, which gives "I'm going to home" and "I asked to him". Say "I'm going home" and "I asked him".
A missing "to" or "for". "Müzik dinliyorum" and "beni bekle" need nothing between the verb and its object, which gives "I listen music" and "Wait me". English adds a preposition: "I listen to music", "Wait for me".
"From" and "with" copied from the verb. "Köpekten korkuyorum" uses -den (from) and "onunla evlendi" uses -la (with), which gives "I'm afraid from dogs" and "She married with him". English says "I'm afraid of dogs" and "She married him" or "She got married to him".

Turkish grammar habits English does not share: -iyor, the missing "the", double negatives

-iyor is not always -ing. "Biliyorum", "anlıyorum" and "istiyorum" all carry the -iyor ending, which is why "I'm knowing him" and "I'm not understanding" come out. In English, verbs of knowing, understanding and wanting stay in the simple form: "I know him", "I don't understand", "I want a coffee".
No word for "the". Turkish marks a specific object with an ending instead: "kitap okudum" is "I read a book"; "kitabı okudum" is "I read the book". A working rule: "a" the first time you mention something, "the" once your listener knows which one you mean. "I watched a movie last night. The movie was three hours long."
Two negatives. "Hiçbir şey görmedim" has a negative word and a negative verb, which gives "I didn't see nothing". Standard English uses one negative in a clause: "I didn't see anything" and "Nobody came", not "Nobody didn't come".

English sounds Turkish does not have, and how to make them

Turkish has no "w" and no "th", and it does not tell words apart by the difference between "live" and "leave" or "full" and "fool". A native Turkish syllable does not begin with two consonants, and b, d and g usually become p, t and k at the end of a word ("kitabı", but "kitap").

Contrast	Say both	How to make the difference
w and v	wet / vet, wine / vine	For "w", start from Turkish "u": lips in a small circle, top teeth off the lip, then slide into the vowel. "U-et" said fast is "wet". For "v", the top teeth touch the lower lip, so "very" does not become "wery".
th and t or d	three / tree, they / day	Rest the tongue tip on the edge of the top teeth and keep the air moving. If the air stops, you get "t" or "d".
b, d, g at the end	bed / bet, bag / back	Keep the vowel longer before the voiced sound: the "e" in "bed" lasts longer than the "e" in "bet".
Consonants together at the start	sport, stress, street	Hold a long "sss" and step straight onto the next consonant: no vowel in front, none in between.
Tense and relaxed vowels	leave / live, fool / full	Spread the lips and hold the vowel for "leave"; round them tightly and hold it for "fool". For "live" and "full", relax the mouth and keep the vowel short.
The "a" of "cat"	sat / set, bad / bed	Drop the jaw further for "sat" than for "set". If the two sound the same, your mouth is not open enough.

Stress matters too. Most Turkish words are accented on the last syllable, and every vowel is pronounced clearly. English stresses one syllable and weakens many of the others: "DOC-ter", "PROB-lum".

Turkish-English false friends: sempatik, apartman, pasta and more

Turkish has borrowed many everyday words from French and other European languages. Several look like an English word and mean something else.

Turkish word	It does not mean	In English, say
sempatik	sympathetic	friendly, likable: "Your brother is really friendly."
apartman	an apartment	an apartment building: "There are ten apartments in our building."
pasta	pasta	cake: "We ordered a birthday cake."
fabrika	fabric	factory: "She works in a car factory."
aktüel	actual	current, topical: "We talked about current events."
kontrol etmek	control (most of the time)	check: "Let me check my calendar."

In English, a "sympathetic" person shows that they understand your troubles, "pasta" is spaghetti and the like ("makarna"), "fabric" is cloth, "actual" means real, and to "control" something is to have power over it.

Drilling Turkish transfer mistakes out loud with Airi

Airi replies out loud and shows one small fix at a time. She does not score pronunciation or tell you which sound was off, so for sounds treat her as a listener: what she answers shows what she understood. The free credits cover about eight minutes, enough for one round.

Tell her what to watch for: "Turkish is my first language. Please point out when I use 'too' for 'very', say 'afraid from', or put -ing on 'know' and 'want'."
Ask her to play a new neighbor, then describe your building, your street and your job. Check each singular noun as you go: it needs "a", "the" or a word like "my".
Put a sound pair into real sentences: "My dog got wet" and "I took my dog to the vet." If her answer shows she understood the other word, say it again more slowly. To check a sound yourself, record the sentence on your phone and listen back.
When a small fix appears, say the corrected sentence out loud once before you go on. Next time, she remembers your name and your last topic.

How to get the most from it

She, he, it — choose before you speak

'O' has three English words. Pick the right one.

Numbers take plurals

Three books, five people, ten minutes.

Round your lips for /w/

Water, would, week — no teeth on the lip.

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Frequently asked questions

Why do Turkish speakers mix up he and she?

Turkish has one pronoun, "o", for "he", "she" and "it", and one possessive, "onun", for "his", "her" and "its". English asks for a choice that Turkish never makes, so the slip shows up in "my sister and his husband" as well as in "my mother... he". It is transfer from a first language, not carelessness. Slowing down slightly on pronouns helps.

Why do Turkish speakers say "vater" for "water"?

Turkish has a "v" sound but no "w", and the Turkish alphabet has no letter w, so the nearest sound takes its place. The mix-up can also run the other way, with a "w" turning up in "very". For "w", round the lips as for Turkish "u" and keep the top teeth off the lower lip. Airi does not score pronunciation, but if her reply shows she understood a different word, you know which sound to repeat.

How do you say "kolay gelsin" and "geçmiş olsun" in English?

English has no fixed equivalent, and the literal versions ("may it come easy", "may it be past") confuse listeners. To someone who is working, say "Don't work too hard" or "Hope it goes well." To someone who is ill, say "Get well soon" or "I hope you feel better soon"; after an accident or bad news, say "I'm sorry to hear that." For "eline sağlık" after a meal, say "That was delicious, thank you."

Is a Turkish accent a problem in English?

Not in itself. Having an accent and being hard to understand are two different things, and you do not need to lose yours. Put your effort into the few contrasts that turn one word into another, such as "wet" and "vet" or "three" and "tree", and into dropping the extra vowel in words like "sport".

Can I practice with Airi in Turkish?

No. Airi talks and shows her fixes in English only. You can tell her in English that Turkish is your first language and ask her to watch for particular habits, such as missing articles.

Is Airi available in Turkey?

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.

Last updated: 2026-10-03