Top 15 German writing mistakes English speakers make

1. "du" where "Sie" belongs

English has one "you" for your best friend and for the tax office. German has two, and the exam checks which one you pick: register is part of Erfüllung, the task-fulfilment criterion. One "du" in a formal letter lowers that grade; a letter written in the wrong register throughout is graded E, and an E on Erfüllung means zero for the whole task. It's the only mistake on this list that can do that.

The polite forms are capitalised — Sie, Ihnen, Ihr — and that matters too: Ich danke ihnen means "I thank them", Ich danke Ihnen means "thank you". The slip works the other way as well: "Sie" to your friend Jonas in Aufgabe 1 is the wrong register for that task. More on getting the formal letter right is in the article on the formal letter.

2. The verb not in second place

In English a sentence can open with a time phrase and carry on as normal: "On Saturday we can cook together." In German the conjugated verb is always the second element. When anything other than the subject comes first — a time, a place, dann, leider, deshalb — the subject moves behind the verb.

Leider ich kann nicht kommen is the same mistake, and a common one in Aufgabe 3, where almost every letter has a "leider": Leider kann ich nicht kommen. The same goes for deshalb and trotzdem, which English speakers treat like "therefore" and "still": Deshalb lerne ich jeden Tag.

3. The verb not at the end after weil, dass, wenn

"Because I am ill" keeps the English order. German sends the conjugated verb to the end of the clause after weil, dass, wenn, ob, obwohl and als.

If the order won't hold under time pressure, denn means the same and keeps normal word order: Ich bleibe zu Hause, denn ich bin krank. And a weil clause standing on its own as a sentence is a fragment, not a link — you can see what that does to a grade in the ten marked sample answers.

4. The second verb not at the end

English keeps its verbs together: "I have bought a new phone", "I'd like to visit my grandmother", "I'll call you tomorrow". German splits them. The conjugated verb stands second, and the rest — the infinitive, the past participle, the separable prefix — goes to the very end, with everything else in between.

The same bracket closes around modal verbs and separable verbs: Ich möchte meine Oma besuchen, not Ich möchte besuchen meine Oma; Ich rufe dich morgen an, not Ich rufe an dich morgen.

5. bekommen is not "become"

Bekommen means "to get, to receive". "To become" is werden.

The wrong version says "after the course I'd like to receive a cook". Bekommen is right where English has "get": Ich habe die Stelle bekommen.

6. will is not "will"

Ich will means "I want", and a blunt want at that. The future is werden, or — far more often in German — simply the present tense with a time word.

The wrong version says the course wants to begin. In a formal letter the slip is worse, because Ich will in a request sounds like a demand: ask with Ich möchte or Könnten Sie …? instead.

7. also is not "also"

Also means "so, therefore, well then". "Also" is auch, or außerdem at the start of a sentence.

The wrong version reads as a conclusion: "the course was great, so the food was very good". And außerdem counts as the first element, so the verb follows straight after it: Außerdem ist der Kurs billig.

8. seit with the Perfekt

English uses the present perfect for something that started in the past and is still going on: "I have lived in Berlin for three years." German uses the present tense with seit.

The Perfekt belongs to a period that is over, and then there's no seit at all: Ich habe drei Jahre in Berlin gewohnt — and you've moved since.

9. haben where the Perfekt needs sein

English builds every perfect with "have". German uses sein with verbs of moving from one place to another and of changing state: gehen, fahren, fliegen, kommen, aufstehen, werden, and also bleiben and passieren.

Aufgabe 1 often asks about something that has already happened — a course, a trip, a party — so this one turns up in letter after letter.

10. gehen for every journey

English "go" covers walking, driving and flying. German gehen is on foot, or going somewhere in the everyday sense: ins Kino gehen, zur Arbeit gehen. A journey by car, train or bus is fahren; by plane, fliegen.

"Mit dem Zug" and "gegangen" in one sentence is a contradiction a German reader notices at once.

11. "Ich bin kalt" instead of "Mir ist kalt"

English says "I'm cold", "I'm bored". German says how things feel to you with the dative: Mir ist kalt, Mir ist langweilig. Ich bin langweilig means "I am boring".

Two more from the same family: "I'm right" is Ich habe recht, not Ich bin richtig, and "I'm hungry" is most naturally Ich habe Hunger.

12. als, wenn and wann

English "when" is three German words. Als is for one event or one period in the past. Wenn is for anything repeated, for the present and the future, and for "if". Wann is for questions, including indirect ones.

The other two in use: Ruf mich an, wenn du Zeit hast. — Weißt du, wann der Kurs beginnt?

13. nicht where kein belongs

English negates almost everything with "not". German negates a noun that would take ein or no article with kein, and keeps nicht for verbs, adjectives and the rest.

So: Das ist kein Problem, but Der Kurs war nicht teuer and Ich komme nicht.

14. The wrong case after mit, von, zu, bei

English has no case endings after prepositions — "with my friends" never changes — so the ending tends to stay as it is in the dictionary. Mit, von, zu, bei, aus, nach and seit always take the dative; in, an and auf take it when they say where something is.

The ending depends on the gender, which English doesn't have to prepare you for, so learn every noun with its article: das Problem, die Wohnung, der Kurs. That's how Ich habe eine Problem mit die Wohnung becomes Ich habe ein Problem mit der Wohnung.

15. Capitals and commas the English way

Three spelling habits come from English at once: nouns in lowercase, because English capitalises only names; "ich" with a capital in the middle of a sentence, because English writes "I"; and no comma before dass, weil or wenn, because English writes "I think that …" without one.

German puts a comma before every subordinate clause, short or long, relative clauses included: der Kurs, den ich gemacht habe. And adjectives of nationality, which English capitalises, stay lowercase: ein deutsches Auto, die italienische Küche.

Don't learn fifteen points as a list. In every text you write, mark the mistakes from this list and see which three come back. Often it's the word-order trio — the verb in second place, the verb at the end after weil, the second verb at the end — plus one false friend. Spend your last five minutes checking exactly those: find every weil and dass and look where the verb is, find every sentence that doesn't start with its subject, and read the formal letter once just for "Sie".

In doch!, Writing feedback marks every correction right in the text and explains under the grammar criterion what was fixed. After three or four texts, your own top three is plain to see without any list.