Most grammar mistakes Arabic-speaking students make in English aren't random. They follow a pattern — and that pattern comes from how Arabic itself is built. Once you see the pattern, the mistakes become easy to catch and easy to fix.
This is a list of the ten we hear most often at WSE Dubai, with the underlying rule and a quick drill. Print this. Tape it to your laptop. Cross them out one by one.
1. "He is engineer" → "He is an engineer"
Arabic doesn't use the indefinite article "a / an." Jobs and roles in Arabic are stated bare: huwa muhandis. In English, singular countable nouns almost always need an article.
Rule: When introducing a singular profession, role or category, add a (or an before a vowel sound).
- ✅ She's a doctor.
- ✅ He's an architect.
- ❌ She's doctor.
2. "I have 25 years" → "I am 25 years old"
Direct translation from 'indi 25 sana. In English, age is a state of being, not a possession.
Rule: Use the verb to be with age. To have is wrong here.
- ✅ I am 28 years old.
- ❌ I have 28 years.
3. "I am living in Dubai since 2022"
Arabic doesn't have the present perfect continuous tense. Students reach for the present continuous because the action is ongoing.
Rule: For an action that started in the past and continues now, use present perfect (or present perfect continuous) — have lived / have been living.
- ✅ I have lived in Dubai since 2022.
- ✅ I have been living in Dubai since 2022.
- ❌ I am living in Dubai since 2022.
4. "I went to the Marina yesterday with my friends and we ate in the restaurant"
Arabic uses al- (the definite article) very generously. English doesn't. We only use the when both speaker and listener already know which one we mean.
Rule: Use the only when the noun is specific or already mentioned. New, generic things take a — or no article for plurals.
- ✅ We ate in a restaurant near the Marina.
- ✅ We ate in the restaurant we love near the Marina. (both of us know which one)
- ❌ We ate in the restaurant. (generic — sounds odd)
5. "I have informations about the visa" → "I have information about the visa"
Some English nouns look countable in Arabic but are uncountable in English. Information, advice, furniture, equipment, news, traffic, research — all uncountable.
Rule: These nouns never take an s and never use a / an. Use some, a piece of, or no determiner.
- ✅ I need some information.
- ✅ Can you give me a piece of advice?
- ❌ I need an information.
6. "Make / Do" — the swap
Arabic uses one verb (ya'mal) where English splits into make and do. Students mix them constantly.
Rule of thumb: make is for creation or producing a result. do is for performing an action or task.
- ✅ I'll make dinner.
- ✅ I'll do my homework.
- ✅ Don't make a decision yet.
- ❌ Don't do a decision.
There's no perfect logic — common pairs need to be memorised. Make a mistake. Do a job. Make money. Do business. Make sense. Do well.
7. "I will to call you tomorrow" → "I will call you tomorrow"
Modal verbs (will, can, must, should, may, might) are followed directly by the bare infinitive — no to.
Rule: No to after a modal.
- ✅ I will call you tomorrow.
- ✅ You should see the new mall.
- ❌ I will to call you tomorrow.
- ❌ You should to see the new mall.
8. Missing the verb "to be"
Arabic doesn't use to be in present-tense statements (huwa muallim = "he is a teacher" with no verb). English insists.
Rule: Almost every English sentence has a verb. If your sentence describes a state, you probably need to be.
- ✅ She is at home.
- ✅ The food is delicious.
- ❌ She at home.
- ❌ The food delicious.
9. "Yesterday I have been to Dubai Mall" → "Yesterday I went to Dubai Mall"
Present perfect (I have been) is for unfinished time periods or unspecified pasts. The moment you say yesterday, last week, in 2022 — you've fixed the time, and you must use simple past.
Rule: Time-stamp in the past = simple past. Always.
- ✅ Yesterday I went to Dubai Mall.
- ✅ I have been to Dubai Mall many times.
- ❌ Yesterday I have been to Dubai Mall.
Get this drilled into reflex with a real teacher.
Most of these errors disappear in the first month of intensive class — because a Cambridge-certified trainer catches them in real time, not in an article.
See our courses10. Adjective order: "white big car" → "big white car"
In English, adjectives come in a strict order: opinion → size → age → shape → colour → origin → material → purpose. In Arabic, adjectives are usually flexible.
Rule: Native speakers won't know the rule consciously, but they'll hear "white big car" as wrong. Memorise the order: OSASCOMP.
- ✅ A big white car. (size, then colour)
- ✅ A lovely old French villa. (opinion, age, origin)
- ❌ A white big car.
You almost never need more than three adjectives at once. When in doubt, default to opinion + size + colour.
How to use this list
Don't try to fix all ten at once. Pick the one that bites you most often this week. Catch yourself making it. Self-correct out loud. Move to the next one in week two.
Most students at WSE Dubai clear all ten in three months of structured class — not because they memorise rules, but because the right input, at the right cadence, makes the wrong patterns sound wrong. That's the goal. Not knowing the rule. Hearing the wrongness automatically.
Omar Haddad
Omar leads the academic team at WSE Dubai. DELTA-qualified with 14 years across the Gulf, he writes about teaching method, the CEFR ladder, and the realities of becoming fluent as an adult.
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Method, mistakes, milestones — written by our teachers.
