Common English Mistakes Russian Speakers Make (and How to Fix Them)

Common English Mistakes Russian Speakers Make usually come from Russian thinking patterns, not from “bad English.” The fix is to notice where English and Russian work differently: articles, tense choice, prepositions, word order, plurals, false friends, and the difference between make and do.

Key Takeaways

• English articles often show whether a noun is new, known, or general, while Russian usually shows this in other ways or leaves it unsaid.
• Use the present perfect for a result linked to now, and use the past simple for a finished time in the past.
• English prepositions are fixed by usage, so Russian logic does not always predict the right one.
• False friends look familiar but can mean something different in English, which makes them especially dangerous for Russian speakers.
• English word order is much stricter than Russian word order, so moving words around for emphasis often sounds wrong.
• Some English nouns are uncountable, so words like advice and information do not take a plural -s.
• Make and do are not interchangeable: make usually means create or cause, while do usually means perform an action or task.

Why do Russian speakers make these English mistakes?

Russian and English solve the same problems in different ways. Russian is more flexible with word order, often drops articles, and uses case endings where English uses prepositions or fixed verb patterns.

That means a sentence can feel “natural” in Russian but still sound off in English. The good news is that these mistakes are predictable, so you can train them out of your writing.

How do I fix article mistakes like a/the/zero?

Use articles in English to show whether a noun is one of many, already known, or general. Russian often does not need an article at all, so Russian speakers often leave one out in English.

How the form is built

1. Use a/an when you mention one thing for the first time and it is not specific.
2. Use the when the reader already knows which thing you mean.
3. Use zero article when speaking about things in general, especially plural or uncountable nouns.

Notice the contrast with Russian: in Russian, you can often say the same idea without an article, so English article choice must be learned as a habit, not translated word by word.

When should I use present perfect and when past simple?

Use the present perfect when the action happened in an indefinite past time or its result matters now. Use the past simple when the time is finished and clear.

Russian speakers often use the past simple everywhere because Russian does not have the same tense contrast for this meaning.

How the form is built

1. Use have/has + past participle for present perfect.
2. Use past verb form for past simple.
3. Ask yourself: is the time finished, or is the result connected to now?

A useful Russian contrast: Russian often says a completed fact simply as a past event, but English may want to connect that fact to the present situation.

If you want more tense practice, see Since vs For: The Intricacies of 'Since' vs. 'For': A Comprehensive Guide, because time expressions often push learners toward the wrong tense.

Which prepositions are hardest for Russian speakers?

The hardest prepositions are usually the ones that look “logical” in Russian but are different in English: in, on, at, and depend on. English prepositions are often fixed by phrase, not by direct translation.

How the form is built

1. Use in for larger containers, months, years, cities, and countries.
2. Use on for surfaces, days, and dates.
3. Use at for precise points in time or place.
4. Use depend on because English needs the preposition on after this verb.

A small but important point: Russian often uses case endings to show relationships, while English relies on these short prepositions. That is why “guessing” prepositions from Russian usually fails.

What false friends should I watch out for?

False friends are words that look familiar but mean something else in English. Russian speakers often trust the familiar shape and choose the wrong meaning.

How the form is built

1. Learn the English meaning, not the “similar-looking” Russian meaning.
2. Check the word in a real sentence before using it.
3. Memorize the most dangerous pairs as meaning traps, not vocabulary lists.

The safest habit is to slow down when a word feels “too easy.” If it looks like Russian, double-check it.

Why does English word order feel so strict?

English word order is strict because it uses position to show who did what. Russian can move words around more freely, but English often cannot.

How the form is built

1. Put the subject before the verb.
2. Put the object after the verb.
3. Put adjectives before nouns.
4. Keep adverbs in a natural English position, usually before the main verb or at the end.

When Russian speakers transfer Russian-style emphasis into English, the sentence can become hard to read even if every word is correct.

Why are advice and information not plural?

Advice and information are uncountable nouns in standard English, so they do not take a plural -s. Russian often treats these ideas as countable in everyday speech, which makes plural forms feel natural but wrong in English.

How the form is built

1. Do not add -s to uncountable nouns like advice and information.
2. Use quantifiers such as some, a piece of, or a bit of when needed.
3. If you want to count items, count the units, not the noun itself.

This is one of the easiest mistakes to fix once you stop translating number directly from Russian.

When do I use make and when do I use do?

Use make when you create, produce, or cause something. Use do when you perform an action, task, or duty.

Russian often uses one broad verb where English splits the meaning into two common verbs.

How the form is built

1. Use make for creation, results, and changes.
2. Use do for work, tasks, activities, and general actions.
3. Learn fixed collocations because English keeps them stable.

For a fuller guide to this pair, read Make vs Do: Collocations, Rules & Examples.

What are the most common Russian-to-English mistakes in real writing?

The biggest issue is not one grammar point. It is the habit of translating Russian structure into English sentence by sentence.

A good self-check is simple: ask whether the English sentence sounds like something a native speaker would actually say, not just something that preserves the Russian meaning. That check catches article errors, tense errors, preposition errors, and word-order problems all at once.

If you write in English often, Blindspot can help here because it shows your mistakes directly and turns them into targeted writing practice based on your own errors. You can even write with mixed language when you do not know a word, and it will surface the missing vocabulary for you.

Common Mistakes

Articles

Wrong: I need new passport for travel.

Right: I need a new passport for travel.

Why: English needs a before a singular countable noun; Russian usually does not mark that with an article.

Present perfect vs past simple

Wrong: I finished this book already.

Right: I have finished this book already.

Why: The result matters now, so English prefers present perfect; Russian often uses a simple past form here.

Prepositions

Wrong: She is good in math.

Right: She is good at math.

Why: English uses a fixed phrase here; Russian learners often choose the preposition by direct translation.

False friends

Wrong: He gave a very sympathetic speech.

Right: He gave a very moving speech.

Why: Sympathetic does not mean emotionally impressive in English.

Word order

Wrong: Always I drink coffee in the morning.

Right: I always drink coffee in the morning.

Why: English usually keeps the subject before the adverb in a simple statement.

Uncountable nouns

Wrong: There are many informations online.

Right: There is a lot of information online.

Why: Information is uncountable in standard English.

Make vs do

Wrong: She made yoga every day.

Right: She did yoga every day.

Why: Activities and exercise usually take do in English.

How can I stop making these mistakes faster?

The fastest way is to notice patterns in your own writing, not to memorize every rule again from zero. Review your errors in short chunks, rewrite them, and reuse the corrected forms in new sentences.

That is exactly why tools like Blindspot are useful for Russian speakers: they turn your mistakes into practice automatically, so you do not have to build exercises by hand.

If you want to keep improving, write a short paragraph today and check whether you made any of these seven mistake types. Then fix only the parts that matter.

For a soft place to start, you can practice writing on Blindspot.