Common mistakes Polish speakers make in English (and which ones matter)
The English mistakes Polish speakers make most often: articles, tenses, false friends, word order and pronunciation, why each happens and which to fix first.
5 min read
Polish speakers often reach a good level of English and still keep a handful of very recognisable mistakes. They are not random. Almost every one comes from a difference between the two languages: Polish has no articles, uses tenses differently and spells sounds that English does not have.
Knowing where a mistake comes from makes it much easier to stop making it. This list is written for Polish speakers who use English at work. Teachers of Polish students will recognise all of it too; the classic reference is the Polish chapter in Swan and Smith's Learner English (Cambridge University Press).
Articles: "a", "the" or nothing
Polish has no articles, so the most common mistake is leaving them out, followed closely by using "the" everywhere to be safe.
| Instead of | Say | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I'm going to meeting with client. | I'm going to a meeting with the client. | Countable singular nouns need an article. |
| The life is short. | Life is short. | General ideas take no article. |
| I work in the IT. | I work in IT. | Fields and subjects usually take none. |
| She is a best developer in the team. | She is the best developer on the team. | Superlatives take "the". |
A practical rule for speaking: if you mention something for the first time and there could be more than one, say "a". If the listener knows which one you mean, say "the".
Tenses that do not exist in Polish
Polish has one past tense where English has several, so the present perfect causes the most trouble.
| Instead of | Say | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I work here since 2021. | I have worked / have been working here since 2021. | Something that started in the past and is still true. |
| Yesterday I have finished the report. | Yesterday I finished the report. | A finished time ("yesterday") takes the past simple. |
| I'm knowing him for years. | I've known him for years. | "Know" is not used in continuous forms. |
| I'm waiting since two hours. | I've been waiting for two hours. | "For" with a length of time, "since" with a starting point. |
Calques: translating Polish word by word
These are the mistakes that make a native speaker smile, because the meaning comes through but the phrase is clearly Polish.
| Instead of | Say | Polish source |
|---|---|---|
| I have 30 years. | I'm 30. | Mam 30 lat. |
| make a photo | take a photo | zrobić zdjęcie |
| I'm agree. | I agree. | Zgadzam się (no "be" in English) |
| explain me | explain to me | wyjaśnij mi |
| discuss about | discuss (no "about") | dyskutować o |
| on the photo | in the photo | na zdjęciu |
| I'm boring at work. | I'm bored at work. | nudzę się (boring = you make others bored) |
False friends
Some English words look like Polish words and mean something different:
- actually means "in fact", not aktualnie (currently).
- eventually means "in the end", not ewentualnie (possibly, if needed).
- sympathetic means understanding someone's problem, not sympatyczny (nice).
- pathetic means pitiful, not patetyczny (solemn).
- receipt is what you get in a shop, not recepta (a prescription).
- extra in English means additional, not super, świetny.
"Eventually" and "actually" are the two worth fixing first, because they change the meaning of a whole sentence in a meeting.
Word order in questions
Polish questions can keep normal word order with rising intonation. English usually needs the auxiliary first:
What you think about it?What do you think about it?Where you work?Where do you work?Why he didn't call?Why didn't he call?
In fast speech this mistake is easy to miss and not very serious. In written messages it is more visible.
Pronunciation
- th: "think" becomes "fink" or "tink", "this" becomes "dis". Most listeners understand anyway, but it is the most noticeable feature of a Polish accent.
- w and v: "very" sometimes comes out as "wery" and the reverse.
- final consonants: Polish devoices consonants at the end of words, so "bag" sounds like "back" and "dog" like "dock".
- short and long vowels: "ship" and "sheep", "full" and "fool" can sound the same.
- "-ed" endings: "worked" is one syllable (/wɜːkt/), not "work-ed".
- word stress: Polish stresses the second-to-last syllable, so words like "deVElopment" or "comPUter" sometimes get the stress in the wrong place.
What not to worry about first
Not every mistake is worth the same effort. A strong Polish accent is fine if your consonants at the end of words are clear and your stress is roughly right. Occasional article mistakes rarely confuse anyone. What does confuse people: the wrong tense (it changes when something happened), false friends like "eventually", and long pauses while you build a perfect sentence.
If you have to choose, fix those three, and keep speaking.
Not sure how you want to be corrected? Read How do you want to be corrected? 5 ways to correct mistakes when speaking English.