How Native Language Word Order Affects English Learning

Matching Nationality, Sentence Structure, and Common English Mistakes

Understanding sentence structure is one of the fastest ways to diagnose why English learners make certain mistakes. English follows a Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) structure, but not all languages do. Even when a learner’s first language also uses SVO, transfer errors still appear — just in different areas.

This article matches nationality, native-language structure, and the most common English mistakes learners make. It’s written for EFL teachers, schools, employers, and adult learners, and is especially useful for UK migrant education, ESOL programmes, and workplace English training.

What Is SVO Word Order?

In English, a basic sentence follows this pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object
She eats rice.
They work nights.

Around 40% of the world’s languages use SVO as their default sentence structure. Learners from these countries usually find English word order easier, especially at beginner levels. However, similar structure does not mean fewer mistakes overall.

Instead, the mistakes move elsewhere — tense, articles, auxiliaries, agreement, and pronunciation.

Why Nationality Matters in EFL Teaching

A learner’s first language strongly influences how they think in English. This process is known as language transfer.

• Positive transfer: similarities help learning
• Negative transfer: native-language rules interfere with English

When teachers understand this, they can:

• Predict errors before they happen
• Correct mistakes faster
• Design targeted lessons instead of generic grammar drills

This is particularly important in mixed-nationality classrooms, where the same grammar point causes different problems for different learners.

SVO Nationalities and Their Common English Mistakes

Below are major SVO-language nationalities and the most common English errors associated with each group.

Spanish Speakers

(Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru)

Why English feels familiar:
Spanish uses a clear SVO structure and conjugated verbs.

Common English mistakes:

• Dropping the subject: “Is raining”
• Overusing the present continuous: “I am knowing him”
• Article omission: “She is doctor”
• Adjective placement errors: “The car red”

Teaching focus:

• Dummy subjects (it / there)
• Stative vs action verbs
• Articles (a / an / the)

French Speakers

(France, Belgium, parts of Canada & Africa)

Why English feels familiar:
Sentence order is almost identical to English.

Common English mistakes:

• Literal translation: “I have 30 years”
• False friends (actually / actuellement)
• Over-formal spoken English
• Word-for-word sentence construction

Teaching focus:

• Idiomatic English
• Age and possession structures
• Natural spoken phrasing

Portuguese Speakers

(Brazil, Portugal)

Why English feels familiar:
Strong SVO alignment and similar sentence rhythm.

Common English mistakes:

• Missing auxiliary verbs: “She not like it”
• Pronunciation of /ɪ/ vs /iː/ (ship / sheep)
• Overuse of present tense

Teaching focus:

• Do / does / did
• Weak forms in speech
• Past simple vs present perfect

Italian Speakers

(Italy)

Why English feels familiar:
Default SVO with flexible word order.

Common English mistakes:

• Subject omission
• Preposition confusion (in / on / at)
• Overuse of gestures instead of words 😄

Teaching focus:

• Mandatory subjects in English
• Preposition collocations
• Controlled speaking practice

Chinese Speakers

(China, Singapore)

Why English feels familiar:
Mandarin is strictly SVO with fixed order.

Common English mistakes:

• No verb tense marking: “Yesterday I go work”
• Missing plurals
• No article usage
• Flat or unclear intonation

Teaching focus:

• Time markers and timelines
• Plural -s
• Article awareness
• Sentence stress and rhythm

Vietnamese Speakers

(Vietnam)

Why English feels familiar:
SVO structure with no inflections.

Common English mistakes:

• Missing tense endings
• No third-person -s
• Question formation errors

Teaching focus:

• Auxiliary verbs
• Verb endings
• Question structure drills

Thai Speakers

(Thailand)

Why English feels familiar:
Clear SVO word order.

Common English mistakes:

• No tense distinction
• Missing plurals
• Weak subject–verb agreement

Teaching focus:

• Timeline visuals
• Minimal pairs
• Repetition with structure control

Indonesian & Malaysian Speakers

(Indonesia, Malaysia)

Why English feels familiar:
Very similar sentence flow to English.

Common English mistakes:

• No tense distinction
• Passive voice confusion
• Overgeneralisation of rules

Teaching focus:

• Active vs passive voice
• Time expressions
• Error correction awareness

Swahili Speakers

(Kenya, Tanzania, East Africa)

Why English feels familiar:
Strong SVO sentence order.

Common English mistakes:

• Overuse of continuous tense
• Pronunciation of consonant clusters
• Stress placement errors

Teaching focus:

• Tense contrast
• Phonics
• Word stress patterns

Why SVO Learners Still Struggle With English

Even when sentence order matches, English remains difficult due to:

• Articles (a / an / the)
• Auxiliary verbs (do, be, have)
• Irregular verb forms
• Pronunciation vs spelling mismatch

This explains why many SVO learners progress quickly to B1, then plateau at B1–B2 without structured, targeted instruction.

How EFL Academy Hub Solves This

At EFL Academy Hub, we teach English using:

• Contrastive grammar
• Nationality-aware lessons
• Real-world communication tasks

Our courses:

• Cover A1–C1
• Support migrants, professionals, and adult learners
• Focus on clarity, confidence, and accuracy

👉 Learn English faster by understanding why you make mistakes — not just correcting them.

Final Thoughts

Nationality does not define ability — but it does predict patterns. Teachers and learners who understand this can work smarter, not harder.

English becomes easier when structure makes sense.

Explore our courses at EFL Academy Hub and start learning with purpose.