If you grew up speaking Italian, English can feel deceptively familiar. Thousands of words share Latin roots, and the grammar can look similar on the surface. But that familiarity is exactly why so many Italian speakers get stuck at the same handful of mistakes — even after years of study.
Quick answer: Most Italian speakers’ English mistakes come from just a few patterns — dropped subjects, false friends, wrong prepositions, and direct-translated idioms. Fix these ten and your English will sound noticeably more natural within weeks.
The good news: these errors are extremely predictable. Once you know what to look for, you can fix most of them within a few weeks of focused practice. Below are the ten mistakes we hear most often from Italian students in our private English lessons, along with simple ways to correct each one.
1. Dropping the subject pronoun (“Is raining” instead of “It is raining”)
Italian is a “pro-drop” language — you can say piove without needing a word for “it.” English almost never drops the subject.
| ❌ Incorrect | ✅ Correct |
|---|---|
| Is working now. | It is working now. |
| Was a good idea. | It was a good idea. |
Fix: Before you speak, mentally check: does this sentence have a subject? If not, add “it,” “he,” “she,” or the correct noun. Real-time correction like this is exactly what our English Grammar Training lessons build.
2. “I have 30 years” instead of “I am 30 years old”
In Italian, age uses the verb avere (to have): ho 30 anni. English uses “to be.”
| ❌ Incorrect | ✅ Correct |
|---|---|
| I have 30 years. | I am 30 years old. |
Fix: Age, hunger, and cold all use “to be” in English (“I’m hungry,” “I’m cold”), even though Italian uses “avere” for all three.
3. False friends that quietly change the meaning
Because English and Italian share so much vocabulary, it’s tempting to translate word-for-word — but some words are “false friends” that mean something different in each language.
| Italian word | Looks like | Actually means in English |
|---|---|---|
| confrontare | confront | to compare |
| attualmente | actually | currently |
| parenti | parents | relatives |
| libreria | library | bookshop |
| fabbrica | fabric | factory |
Fix: If a translation feels “too easy,” double-check it. False friends are the single biggest source of embarrassing mix-ups in professional emails — worth reviewing in our Business English lessons.
4. Misusing “make” and “do”
Italian uses fare for both. English splits the meaning:
| Use “make” for | Use “do” for |
|---|---|
| make a decision | do homework |
| make a mistake | do business |
| make money | do a favor |
| make a plan | do the shopping |
Fix: Learn them in fixed pairs rather than translating fare directly.
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5. Overusing the present continuous
Italian speakers often say “I am understanding” or “I am knowing,” carrying over patterns that don’t exist in English for stative verbs.
| ❌ Incorrect | ✅ Correct |
|---|---|
| I am understanding the lesson. | I understand the lesson. |
| I am knowing your brother. | I know your brother. |
Fix: Verbs about thoughts, feelings, and senses (know, understand, believe, love, want) are almost never used in the continuous form. Our Speaking Practice lessons drill this exact habit in real conversation.
6. Wrong preposition after certain verbs
Prepositions rarely translate directly between languages, and this is one of the hardest things to self-correct.
| ❌ Incorrect | ✅ Correct |
|---|---|
| I’m married with an engineer. | I’m married to an engineer. |
| Depend of the weather. | Depends on the weather. |
Fix: Learn prepositions as part of the verb phrase (“married to,” “depend on,” “arrive at”), not as separate words.
7. “People is” instead of “People are”
La gente is singular in Italian, so it’s natural to treat “people” as singular in English too — but in English, “people” is treated as plural.
| ❌ Incorrect | ✅ Correct |
|---|---|
| People is waiting outside. | People are waiting outside. |
Fix: Memorize “people” as an exception: always plural, always paired with “are/were/have.”
8. Skipping articles (“a,” “an,” “the”)
Italian articles follow different rules, so Italian speakers often skip English articles where they’re required, or add them where they’re not.
| ❌ Incorrect | ✅ Correct |
|---|---|
| I work in office. | I work in an office. |
| The love is beautiful. | Love is beautiful. (no article needed for general concepts) |
Fix: This is one of the trickiest areas of English for almost all learners — it takes real practice with a tutor who can correct you in real time, since the “rules” have many exceptions. See our full English Communication Skills Training for structured practice.
9. Direct translation of idioms
Phrases like “in bocca al lupo” (literally “in the wolf’s mouth,” meaning “good luck”) don’t translate word-for-word.
| ❌ Direct translation | ✅ Correct English |
|---|---|
| “Good work” as a greeting (from “buon lavoro”) | “Have a good day at work” or simply “good luck today” |
Fix: Learn common English idioms and business expressions as whole phrases — our Business Emails & Expressions course covers exactly this.
10. Passive voice overload in professional writing
Italian academic and business writing leans heavily on passive constructions, which can make English emails and reports sound stiff or unclear.
| Passive (overused) | Active (clearer) |
|---|---|
| It was decided by the team that the meeting will be postponed. | The team decided to postpone the meeting. |
Fix: In English business writing, active voice is usually clearer and more confident. Ask: who is doing the action? Put that person first. If this shows up in your work emails, our Customer Service English course is a practical place to fix it.
Quick-reference summary
| # | Mistake pattern | Remember it as |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dropping “it”/subject | Every English sentence needs a subject |
| 2 | “I have 30 years” | Age uses “to be,” not “to have” |
| 3 | False friends | If it feels too easy, double-check it |
| 4 | make vs do | Learn them in fixed pairs |
| 5 | “I am knowing” | Stative verbs skip the continuous form |
| 6 | Wrong prepositions | Learn verb + preposition as one unit |
| 7 | “People is” | People is always plural |
| 8 | Missing articles | a / an / the — practice with a tutor |
| 9 | Translated idioms | Learn idioms as whole phrases |
| 10 | Passive overload | Active voice = clearer, more confident |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do Italian speakers make these specific mistakes in English? Most come directly from Italian grammar patterns — like dropping subject pronouns or using “avere” (to have) for age — carrying over naturally into English sentence structures where they don’t apply.
What’s the fastest way to stop making these mistakes? Real-time correction from a tutor works faster than self-study, because these patterns become automatic through repetition — you need someone to catch the mistake the moment you make it, not days later.
Are false friends really that common a problem? Yes — because English and Italian share so much vocabulary, false friends (like confrontare vs “confront”) are one of the most frequent sources of miscommunication in professional English writing specifically.
If you’d like personalised feedback on exactly which of these habits you’re carrying into your English, book a free trial lesson with one of our tutors. We’ll identify your specific patterns and build a plan around fixing them. Curious what a full course of study looks like? Compare our lesson packages to find the right fit.
Want more grammar breakdowns like this one? Related reads: Can vs Could, Must vs Have To, Should Have / Could Have / Would Have, and Would vs Could. Or practice what you’ve learned with our free ESL Games and Study Materials.
