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

If your first language is Vietnamese, most of your English mistakes are Vietnamese habits carried into English. Vietnamese words never change their form, there is no "a" or "the", a syllable ends in one consonant at most, and every syllable has its own tone. Linguists call this transfer. It is not carelessness, and each habit has a clear fix.

The best known: 1) Dropped final consonants: "I like rice" comes out close to "I lie rye". 2) Dropped -s: "two book", "she work" instead of "two books", "she works". 3) A verb that stays the same: "Yesterday I go" instead of "Yesterday I went", and "I already eat" (ăn rồi) instead of "I've already eaten". 4) Missing articles: "I have meeting" instead of "I have a meeting". 5) "Very" before a verb: "I very like it" (rất thích) instead of "I really like it". 6) Questions without "do" or "did": "You like coffee?" and "Why you came early?" instead of "Do you like coffee?" and "Why did you come early?" 7) "Yes" to a negative question: "vâng" and "ừ" agree with what the other person said, so "You don't like it?" can get "Yes" when the meaning is "No, I don't". 8) Shortened clusters: "firs" for "first", "tes" for "test".

Knowing the rule is the easy part; when you speak, the Vietnamese sentence still arrives first. What helps is saying the English version out loud, many times, in a real exchange. That is the job Airi does: you talk, she answers out loud, shows one small fix at a time and carries on with the conversation. Free to start, no card needed.

What Vietnamese speakers often say in English, and the Vietnamese behind it

Each sentence in the left column follows a correct Vietnamese sentence word for word, which is why it is hard to notice from the inside. Say the natural version aloud as one whole phrase until it is the one that comes out first.

Rồi, đang, chưa: Vietnamese time words and the English forms they need

A Vietnamese verb or noun has one form. Time and number are shown by separate words, and only when the context has not already made them clear. English marks them every time, even when a word like "tomorrow" or "three" has done the job.

• Plural -s. In "ba quyển sách" the number does all the work and "sách" stays the same. English wants the number and the ending: "three books".
• He works, she has. A Vietnamese verb is the same for every subject. After "he", "she" or "it", an English verb in the present takes -s: "My sister works at a bank."
• A and the. Classifiers such as "con" and "cái" are not articles, and a Vietnamese noun can stand alone: "Cô ấy là bác sĩ". In English a singular countable noun cannot: "She's a doctor", "I bought a phone".

Final consonants: why Vietnamese speakers drop English word endings

A Vietnamese syllable can end in only a few consonant sounds, written p, t, c or ch, m, n, and ng or nh. Final p, t and c are held, not released. Two consonants never end a syllable together, and after a glide such as "ai" or "ao" no consonant follows at all. English endings that do not fit this pattern are dropped or swapped for the nearest Vietnamese sound, and many of them carry grammar.

• After an "ai" or "ao" sound. "Wife" and "white" both shrink to "why", and "house" to "how", because the glide has already filled the last slot of the syllable. Finish the vowel, then add the consonant as a separate step: "why-f", "how-s".
• Final s, z, sh and ch tend to be left out, so "price" and "prize" both sound like "pry". Make the hiss long on purpose at first: "pricesss".
• Final l can turn into n, so "bill" is heard as "bin". Keep the tongue tip up and let the air out around its sides, not through the nose. Pinch your nose to check: "bill" should come out unchanged.
• Final f, v, b and d can come out as p or t: "leaf" is heard as "leap", and "bad" as "bat". For f and v, rest the top teeth on the lower lip and keep the air moving. For b and d, hold the vowel a little longer than you would before p or t.
• Clusters lose a consonant or two: "next" becomes "neck", and "walked" becomes "walk", which takes the past tense with it. Build the ending one sound at a time: "nek", "neks", "next".
• Linking makes endings easier. Before a vowel, move the final consonant onto the next word: "pick it up" sounds like "pi-ki-tup".

English sounds and stress that are hard for Vietnamese speakers

A Vietnamese accent is not a fault. These swaps matter only where they turn one English word into another. Several come from northern pronunciation, so not every row will apply to you.

Every Vietnamese syllable carries its own tone and is said in full. English picks one syllable in a word to make longer and louder and lets the others shrink: "banana" is "buh-NA-nuh".

Speaking drills with Airi for Vietnamese-to-English habits

Airi answers out loud and shows one small fix at a time. She does not rate your sounds, so drill the word pairs above on your own with a voice recorder and use her for whole sentences. The free credits last about eight minutes of speaking, so take one habit per session.

1. Set the target: "Vietnamese is my first language. Please point out verbs I leave in the present and any missing 'is' or 'are'."
2. For past forms, say: "Ask me about yesterday, one question at a time." Answer in full sentences and finish every -ed: "I cooked dinner and watched a movie."
3. For "there is" and "there are", have her interview you about your neighborhood: "There's a market near my house, and there are two coffee shops on my street."
4. For question order, ask her to role-play a new coworker, and you ask the questions: "Where do you live?", "What do you do on weekends?", "Why did you choose this job?"
5. For endings, ask her to play a waiter and order "fried rice", "five spring rolls" and "a glass of iced tea". If her reply shows she understood something else, say the order again and finish each word.
6. Each time she shows a fix, say the corrected sentence once before you go on. Come back the next day: she remembers your name and last topic, so you can tell the same story again and listen for the endings you missed.

How to get the most from it

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: 2026-10-03