Common English mistakes Vietnamese speakers make

Vietnamese and English are structurally very different languages — Vietnamese has no verb tenses marked by endings and no plural markers on nouns — so certain mistakes show up in Vietnamese learners' English extremely consistently. Recognising them by name makes them much easier to self-correct.

Dropping verb endings ("-ed", "-s", "-ing")

Vietnamese verbs don't change form for tense or subject — time and number are shown with separate words instead. This leads to English sentences like "She go to work every day" or "Yesterday I finish my homework," where the verb ending gets dropped.

Fix: in English, the verb itself has to change: "She goes to work," "Yesterday I finished my homework." A useful habit: after saying any verb, quickly check "does this need -s, -ed, or -ing?"

Dropping plural "-s" ("three book", "many student")

Vietnamese nouns don't change for plural — a number or quantity word alone shows "more than one" ("ba cuốn sách" = "three book," literally). Carried into English, this produces "I have three book" or "many student came."

Fix: in English, the number word AND the plural "-s" are both required: "three books," "many students." Practise counting nouns out loud specifically adding the "-s.

Question word order ("You go where?" instead of "Where do you go?")

Vietnamese forms questions by keeping the normal sentence order and adding a question word or particle at the end or in place ("Bạn đi đâu?" = "You go where?"). English questions instead move the question word to the front and add an auxiliary verb ("do/does/did").

Fix: English wh-questions follow: [question word] + [do/does/did] + [subject] + [verb]. "Where do you go?" not "You go where?" This takes real drilling to become automatic — it's one of the most persistent patterns.

Confusing "he" and "she"

Vietnamese pronouns don't mark grammatical gender the way English "he/she" does, so many learners genuinely mix them up in fast speech even at a high level, not from lack of knowledge but from the habit not being built in.

Fix: this is a pure habit-drill problem, not a knowledge gap — practising quick he/she substitution exercises out loud (not just on paper) closes the gap faster than grammar review.

Common questions

Why do these mistakes persist even at a high vocabulary level?

Because they come from structural differences (no tense endings, no plural marking, different question word order in Vietnamese) rather than from not knowing the rule — many advanced Vietnamese speakers can state the rule perfectly but still drop it in fast, unmonitored speech. That's a habit problem, which needs spoken drilling, not more grammar explanation.

What should I ask a tutor to focus on?

Ask specifically for correction on verb endings, plural -s, and question word order in live conversation — not just written homework. These are the patterns most likely to need spoken repetition to actually stick.