Common English mistakes Indonesian speakers make

Indonesian does not change verbs for tense, does not need a plural ending, and often leaves out "to be". English asks for all three, and Indonesian has fewer vowel sounds than English. Those differences account for most repeated mistakes.

Verbs that do not change for time ("Yesterday I eat")

Indonesian shows time with words such as sudah (already) and akan (will), and the verb itself stays the same. English learners then say "Yesterday I eat rice" or "She already finish."

Fix: English changes the verb: "I ate", "she has finished". Take the ten verbs you use most and learn their past forms by heart, spoken aloud.

Leaving out "is / am / are" ("She very smart")

In Indonesian, an adjective can follow the subject directly, with no word for "to be". This becomes "He tired" or "My house big" in English.

Fix: English needs a verb in every sentence: "He is tired", "My house is big". Use short substitution drills: change the subject and keep the sentence complete.

Plural endings and "a / the"

Indonesian repeats a word or uses a number to show plurals, and has no articles. English learners write "three book" and "I have car".

Fix: add "-s" to the noun whenever there is more than one, and pair singular nouns with "a" or "the".

The "th" sounds and short and long vowels

"Think" and "this" often become "tink" and "dis". English also separates pairs such as "ship" and "sheep" or "full" and "fool" by vowel length, which Indonesian does not.

Fix: minimal pair practice with a tutor who can hear the difference and correct it immediately.

Common questions

Why do these mistakes continue after years of studying English?

Indonesian does not mark tense or plurals on the word itself and leaves out "to be", so the English habit has nothing to grow from. Knowing the rule is not the same as producing it in fast speech, which needs spoken repetition.

What should I ask a tutor to focus on?

Ask for correction on past tense, the missing "is / am / are" and the th and vowel sounds in live conversation, not only in written homework.