The English mistakes Polish speakers make, and how to fix them
Each guide takes one mistake Polish carries into English: what it sounds like, why Polish causes it, the rule, and a short exercise to check yourself.
I am tired, not Am tired: why Polish speakers drop the subject
In English every sentence except a command needs a subject, even when the verb already makes it obvious: “I am tired”, not “Am tired”. Polish carries the person on the verb ending, so the pronoun feels redundant and quietly disappears.
Read the guide →A1 · Missing articlesThere is a bed, not “There is bed”: articles with there is and there are
After there is, a singular countable noun needs a or an: “There is a bed”, never “There is bed”. After there are, a number, some or any usually follows, and there stays in the sentence even when you mention a place: “There are two boxes under the bed.”
Read the guide →A1 · Blunt requestsCould I have a loaf? Why “Give me bread” sounds rude in English
In English, “Give me bread” is grammatical and still sounds rude. Polite requests are built as questions or softened statements: “Could I have a loaf, please?” or “I'd like a loaf, please.”
Read the guide →A1 · Time prepositionsOn Monday, in the morning, at seven: prepositions of time in, on and at
Use at for clock times (at seven, at half past six), on for days and dates (on Monday, on 3 May) and in for parts of the day, months and years (in the morning, in July). Before next, last, this and every, use no preposition at all: “next week”, not “in next week”.
Read the guide →A1 · No continuous formI'm working now, not I work now: present simple vs present continuous
Use the present continuous (am/is/are + -ing) for what is happening at this moment: “I'm working now”, not “I work now”. Keep the present simple for habits and routines: “I work every day.” Polish uses one present tense for both, which is why the choice feels invisible.
Read the guide →A1 · -ed endingsWalked has one syllable: how to pronounce the -ed ending
The -ed ending adds a syllable only after a t or d sound: wanted /ˈwɒntɪd/, needed /ˈniːdɪd/. Everywhere else it is a single consonant, /t/ in walked and stopped, /d/ in stayed and lived. So walked has one syllable, never “walk-ed”.
Read the guide →A2 · Articles and uncountablesA, an, the and uncountable nouns: why it's “some information”, not “two informations”
Information, advice, furniture and luggage are uncountable in English: no a, no plural, so you say “some information”, never “two informations”. And a singular countable noun almost never stands alone: it needs a, an, the or another word in front of it.
Read the guide →A2 · Prepositions of placeAt the end of the street, not “on the end”: prepositions of place and movement
It's “at the end of the street”, not “on the end”, even though Polish says „na końcu”. English prepositions of place and movement don't map one to one onto Polish ones: przez can be through, across or over, and obok can be next to or past. The safest way to learn them is as whole phrases.
Read the guide →A2 · Superlatives without theDev is the kindest neighbour: why superlatives need “the”
An English superlative almost always takes the: “Dev is the kindest neighbour”, “Marta is the most patient of the four”. Polish marks first place with naj- and nothing else, so the is the word that goes missing. The comparative works the other way round: than, and no the.
Read the guide →A2 · Should toI should go, not “I should to go”: modal verbs without to
After should, and after the other modal verbs (can, could, must, will, would, may, might), the next verb comes without to: “I should go”, never “I should to go”. The to belongs to have to, need to and ought to, which is exactly why it gets carried over.
Read the guide →A2 · No perfect tensesHave you ever or did you ever: why it's “Have you ever eaten haggis?”
To ask about an experience at any point in someone's life so far, British English uses the present perfect: “Have you ever eaten haggis?” The moment you name a time, such as last winter or in 2019, the past simple is right again: “When did you try it?”
Read the guide →A2 · Make or doMake or do: why it's “Let's make a plan”, not “Let's do a plan”
Make is usually for creating or producing something: a cake, a plan, a decision. Do is for activities, tasks and work: homework, the shopping, a favour. Polish zrobić covers both, so the choice has to be learnt phrase by phrase, with a rule of thumb to help.
Read the guide →B1 · Order of past eventsPast perfect: why it's “When I came, he had already left”
When you tell a story in the past and go back to something that happened even earlier, English puts the earlier event in the past perfect: “When I came, he had already left.” The word already is optional. The had is not.
Read the guide →B1 · Since with the presentSince and for: why it's “I've been working here since March”, not “I work here since March”
When something started in the past and is still going on, English uses the present perfect, often the continuous: “I've been working here since March.” “I work here since March” is how Polish says it, and English won't take it.
Read the guide →B1 · No backshift, said vs toldReported speech: why it's “She told me the café was closing”
When you report what someone said and the situation has changed since, English moves the verb back a tense: “The café is closing” becomes “She said the café was closing.” And tell needs a person after it, while say doesn't: she told me, she said.
Read the guide →B1 · Have for everything“I have cold”, “It has 20 years”: when Polish mieć isn't have in English
Many things Polish says with mieć, English says with be: “I'm 34”, “You're right”, “We were lucky”, “The house is 20 years old.” Once have becomes the verb for states, it spreads further, to “I have cold” and “I have hungry”, where English also needs be: “I'm cold”, “I'm hungry”.
Read the guide →B1 · Word orderWord order in English: why it's “If I had the money”, not “If the money I had”
English word order is fixed: subject, then verb, then object, and that holds in both halves of a conditional: “If I had the money, I would take it on.” Polish can move words around because its endings show who does what; English nouns have no such endings to lean on.
Read the guide →B1 · Double negativesNobody told me anything: why Polish speakers use double negatives in English
Standard English allows one negative per clause: “Nobody told me anything”, not “Nobody didn't tell me anything”. Polish negates the verb and every nobody and nothing around it („Nikt mi nic nie powiedział”), so the extra not sounds right to a Polish ear.
Read the guide →B2 · Unreduced vowelsSchwa and weak forms: why “for”, “to” and “and” shouldn't sound the way they're spelt
In ordinary English speech, small words like for, to, and, of and would lose their full vowel: “for you” is /fə juː/, “fish and chips” is /fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/. Polish pronounces every vowel in full and has no schwa, so Polish speakers say these words as they are spelt and, more importantly, often don't hear them at all.
Read the guide →B2 · Subjectless feelingsI'm sorry, it seems to me: why English feelings need a subject
Polish puts the person who feels something in the dative and often leaves the sentence without a subject: „jest mi przykro”, „wydaje mi się”. English makes that person the subject, or brings them in with to: “I'm sorry”, “It seems to me”.
Read the guide →B2 · Trusting look-alike wordsFalse friends for Polish speakers: sympathetic, actually, eventually and the rest
“Sympathetic” doesn't mean „sympatyczny”: it means understanding, sorry for someone in trouble. A pleasant person is “nice”, “friendly” or “likeable”. The same trap is waiting in actually, eventually, pathetic, lecture and receipt.
Read the guide →B2 · Too many reflexivesHe hid, not “He hid himself”: reflexive pronouns and Polish się
Most Polish verbs with się have an English equivalent with no pronoun at all: „ukryć się” is hide, „spotkać się” is meet, „okazać się” is turn out. Translating się as himself or itself gives “He hid himself” and “It turned out itself”, where English simply says “He hid” and “It turned out”.
Read the guide →B2 · CountabilityHow much money, not how many: countability traps that outlast A2
At B2 the mistake is rarely “two informations” any more. It hides in the word in front, “how many money”, “a few furniture”, “many advices”, and in the verb after, “the news are”. The fix is to choose the quantifier and the verb from the English noun, not the Polish one.
Read the guide →B2 · Formality without pan / paniFormality without pan and pani: how to sound polite in English
Polish shows respect in the grammar: „Musi pan tu podpisać” is perfectly polite. English has only you, so politeness has to come from the words around it: “Would you mind signing here?”, “Could you let me know by Friday?”. Drop the pan, keep the rest, and you get “You must sign here”, which sounds like an order.
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