Common English Errors by Portuguese Speakers
CEFR B1-B2 • ESL • False friends, word order, and the patterns to fix them
The cluster of errors specific to Portuguese speakers
Portuguese and English share more vocabulary than most language pairs. That is the good news. The bad news: the overlap creates false friends — words that look identical but mean completely different things — and grammar patterns that translate directly but sound wrong. This page covers the 25 most common English errors by native Portuguese speakers, with side-by-side fixes and the reasoning behind each.
Group 1: False friends (highest impact)
"I pretend to ship by Friday." (PT: pretendo entregar)
"I intend to ship by Friday." or "I plan to ship by Friday."
"I will assist the meeting at 3." (PT: assistir = attend)
"I will attend the meeting at 3." ('Assist' in English = help.)
"Actually, I am working on the migration." (PT: atualmente = currently)
"Currently, I am working on the migration." ('Actually' in English = in fact / really.)
"We eventually deploy on Fridays." (PT: eventualmente = sometimes)
"We occasionally deploy on Fridays." ('Eventually' in English = in the end.)
"All my parents will come to the wedding." (PT: parentes = relatives)
"All my relatives will come to the wedding." ('Parents' in English = mother and father only.)
Group 2: Verb-preposition mismatches
"I will call to him tomorrow." (PT: ligar para)
"I will call him tomorrow." ('Call' takes no preposition.)
"I am married with Sandeep." (PT: casado com)
"I am married to Sandeep." ('Married' takes 'to,' not 'with.')
"I depend of him for the report." (PT: depender de)
"I depend on him for the report." ('Depend' takes 'on,' not 'of.')
"She is interested on the proposal." (PT: interessado em)
"She is interested in the proposal." ('Interested' takes 'in.')
"I think in the customer experience." (PT: pensar em)
"I think about the customer experience." ('Think' takes 'about.')
Group 3: Word order and adjective placement
"It is a contract big and complex." (PT: contrato grande e complexo)
"It is a big and complex contract." (English: adjective BEFORE noun.)
"I bought a car red."
"I bought a red car."
"I went home of mine yesterday." (PT: minha casa)
"I went to my home yesterday." or "I went home yesterday."
Group 4: Tense issues
"I work here since 2022." (PT: trabalho desde)
"I have worked here since 2022." or "I have been working here since 2022." ('Since' = present perfect, not present.)
"I am working there for two years."
"I have been working there for two years."
"I have called him yesterday." (PT: pretérito perfeito)
"I called him yesterday." (Past simple with specific time.)
Group 5: Article overuse
"The life is short." (PT: a vida é curta)
"Life is short." (No article for abstract nouns.)
"I love the music." (you mean music in general)
"I love music."
"The Brazil is beautiful."
"Brazil is beautiful." (No article before most country names.)
Group 6: "Make" vs "do" confusion
"I will make my work tomorrow." (PT: fazer = make/do)
"I will do my work tomorrow." (Use 'do' for tasks/work/exercise.)
"We made a question."
"We asked a question."
"He did a presentation."
"He made a presentation." or "He gave a presentation." (Use 'make' for plans/decisions/presentations.)
Group 7: Subject-verb agreement
"People is excited about the launch." (PT: a gente está)
"People are excited about the launch." ('People' is plural in English.)
"The team are going."
"The team is going." (American English: 'team' is singular. British English allows both.)
Group 8: Question word order
"You know where is the meeting?"
"Do you know where the meeting is?" (Embedded questions: statement order.)
"Can you tell me what is happening?"
"Can you tell me what is happening?" ('what is' = OK if you mean 'what is happening.' But 'I do not know what is the answer' should be 'what the answer is.')
Group 9: "Doubt" vs "question" (the killer false friend)
"I have a doubt about the timeline." (PT: tenho uma dúvida)
"I have a question about the timeline." ('Doubt' in English = 'I do not believe.' Use 'question' for being unsure.)
Group 10: "Sensible" vs "sensitive"
"He is very sensible to feedback." (PT: sensível)
"He is very sensitive to feedback." ('Sensible' in English = practical.)
Hear all the corrections
"I intend to ship by Friday — the migration is on track."
"Currently, I am working on the report. I have a question about the deadline."
"I have worked here since 2022. I am married to a designer who works at Stripe."
"I will attend the meeting at 3 PM. I am interested in the new proposal."
"People are excited about the launch. We made the right decision."
Quick self-test
1. "I am working there since two years."
Fix: "I have been working there for two years." Two changes: 'since' + duration → 'for'; 'I am working' → 'I have been working' (present perfect continuous).
2. "He is sensible to feedback."
Fix: "He is sensitive to feedback." 'Sensible' in English = practical. 'Sensitive' = easily affected.
3. "I have a doubt about the proposal."
Fix: "I have a question about the proposal." 'Doubt' in English implies disbelief.
4. "I depend of him for the report."
Fix: "I depend on him for the report." 'Depend' takes 'on,' not 'of.'
5. "I will assist the all-hands tomorrow."
Fix: "I will attend the all-hands tomorrow." 'Assist' in English = help. 'Attend' = be present at.
Pronunciation notes for Portuguese speakers
- "-ed" past tense pronunciation: three different sounds depending on the preceding consonant. /t/ after voiceless ("walked," "stopped"), /d/ after voiced ("called," "lived"), /ɪd/ after t/d ("wanted," "ended"). Many Portuguese speakers default to /ɪd/ — train the others.
- "th" sounds: Portuguese has no /θ/ (think) or /ð/ (this). Common substitutions: /f/ for /θ/ ("free" instead of "three") or /d/ for /ð/. Practice tongue-between-teeth.
- Final consonants: Portuguese tends to soften final consonants. English requires you to fully pronounce them — "stopped" not "stoppee," "walked" not "walkee."
- Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables: English uses schwa /ə/ for unstressed vowels. "Information" = /ɪnfərˈmeɪʃən/, not /ɪnformasion/. Reduces unstressed vowels to a neutral sound.
- Word stress: English stress is usually on the second-to-last (penultimate) or earlier syllable, while Portuguese often stresses the last syllable in cognates. "Computer" = comPUter, not computERR.
Practice: Test yourself
Tap each question to reveal the answer.