I swore off making more lists about English errors after wrapping up part three of the series. But guess what? Some Czech folks told me they found them pretty handy. So, for all you Czechs struggling to kill time on these cold evenings, I caved and put together one more. Enjoy!

Mistake no. 1

Czechs struggle with indefinite and definite articles. I often hear sentences like “Can I get a bill please?” If you ask for ‘a’ bill, the waiter can give you any bill, which could cause a nasty surprise. You need to ask for the bill (i.e., the specific bill for the food you’ve eaten).

Mistake no. 2

Czechs have difficulties with adverbs of degree (‘very’, ‘quite’, etc.). For example they might say, “The restaurant quite reminds me of one in Prague”, or “The restaurant very reminds me of one in Prague.” We can’t use ‘quite’ or ‘very’ to modify the verb, because ‘quite’ and ‘very’ only modify adjectives and adverbs. This sentence, on the other hand, is fine: “The restaurant is quite similar to the one in Prague.”

Mistake no. 3

Czechs use ‘play’ and ‘act’ interchangeably. For example, “Scarlett Johansson plays in this movie.” This suggests there is a scene where Johansson plays something (e.g., a game or instrument), rather than indicating that she acts throughout the entire film. Actors don’t play in a movie, they are ‘in a movie’ (‘Scarlet Johansson is in this movie’). We can however use ‘play’ to describe the role of an actor/actress: ‘Daniel Radcliffe plays Harry Potter in the movie’.

Mistake no. 4

One of the most common English errors is using gender specific possessives for abstract nouns and inanimate objects. For example, this show and her atmosphere remind me of another show.” (Correct version: “This show and its atmosphere remind me of another show.”)

Mistake no. 5

Another English error is using articles with plurals. For example, ‘she makes an interesting gestures’. Gestures is plural, so ‘a/an’ is redundant. (Correct version: ‘She makes interesting gestures.’)

Mistake no.6

When I began teaching Czechs, I’d often hear them say: “I wouldn‘t say it better.” Eventually I realised they were reaching for the phrase: “I couldn’t have said it better myself”. I.e., ‘You said it perfectly and I completely agree.’

Mistake no.7

Czechs tend to combine ‘much’ and ‘that’ to create sentences like: “I don’t find it that much important anymore.” ‘Much´ should be omitted because ‘that’ is used as an adverb (correct version: ‘it’s not that important’).

Mistake no. 8

Using auxiliary verbs in the past tense is among the most frequent English errors. For example, ‘Did you recognized the narrator of the show?’ Here, we should use the base form of the main verb (recognize) because the auxiliary verb (did) is already in the past tense. (Correct version: “Did you recognize the narrator of the show?”)

Mistake no. 9

Czechs use ‘see’ when talking about television shows. For example, ‘I will see some other episodes next week.’ ‘See’ generally means going to the cinema to watch a movie. ‘Watch’ suggests a more deliberate action and so tends to be used for watching things at home (where there is more choice). However, on occasions you can also ‘see’ a movie or TV episode at home if it is part of an evening’s broadcasting schedule and you just happen to ‘see’ it. E.g., ‘Did you see the new episode of Sherlock last night?’

Mistake no.10

Czechs tend to place the location towards the beginning of the sentence. For example, “Do we have here any fans of ice cream?” English word order is: Subject > verb > indirect object > direct object > place.” Hence the correct version is: “Do we have any fans of ice cream here?”

*Check out the previous lists for more typical English errors Czech make.