Grammar for Korean speakers
The grammar mistakes Korean students actually make (articles, perfect tenses, countability), why Korean causes each one, and drills that fix them.
22 articles
- Middle school
I am boring: the -ed/-ing adjective mix-up Korean students make
Korean students often say "I am boring" when they mean "I am bored." The mix-up comes straight from how Korean describes feelings, and once you show students the rule, it clicks fast.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Elementary
'I have dog': fixing the missing article in Korean English
Korean has no word for "a" or "the," so students build English sentences without them. This piece explains why in plain terms and gives drills that move from one word to full sentences.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
Indirect questions trip up Korean speakers: fixing 'what is this'
Korean questions don't reorder words, so students bolt the English question pattern onto embedded clauses as one memorized block, producing "I don't know what is this" instead of "I don't know what this is."
Student sheet + teacher notes - Elementary
Why Korean students say "Do you can swim?"
Korean marks ability by changing the verb ending, not by adding a helper word, so students double up and ask "Do you can swim?" Here's the simple reason, and drills that fix it in one class.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
The missing -s: why Korean students say "she go to school"
Korean verbs never change for the subject, so students carry that habit into English and drop the -s on "he goes," "she likes," and "it works." Here's the quick explanation and drills that fix it.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
Why Korean speakers turn "I've eaten" into "I ate"
Korean has no grammatical structure that matches the English present perfect, so students collapse every finished action into simple past, meaning "I ate lunch" and "I have eaten lunch three times this week" come out sounding identical.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
Reported speech doesn't shift tense in Korean, and neither do your students
Korean reported speech quotes the original sentence without changing its tense, so students carry that habit straight into English and say "She told me she is tired" instead of "she was tired."
Student sheet - Middle school
In, on, at: the time prepositions Korean speakers mix up
Korean speakers say "in Monday" or "at March" because Korean uses one particle, 에, for every time expression. English splits that job three ways, and there's no shortcut; you just have to drill the categories until they're automatic.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
Make, let and have: the causative verbs Korean speakers mix up
Korean expresses force, permission, and arrangement with one causative pattern, 시키다 (sikida) or -게 하다 (-ge hada), so students map all three onto a single English verb, usually "make," producing sentences like "My mother made me clean my room" when they mean "had" or "let."
Student sheet + teacher notes "I very like it": the adverb mistake Korean English speakers make
Korean speakers often say "I very like it" because Korean intensifiers like 너무 (neomu) or 정말 (jeongmal) attach directly to verbs, something English never allows. English needs "really," "very much," or a different adjective-based structure instead.
Student sheet + teacher notes- Middle school
Say versus tell: the verb swap every Korean speaker makes
Korean speakers say "he told to me" and "she said me" because one Korean verb, 말하다 (malhada), covers both English verbs. Say never takes a direct object for the listener; tell almost always does, with no "to."
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
Why "Yes, I don't" makes sense in Korean but not in English
Korean speakers answer negative questions by agreeing with the question itself, not the fact behind it, so "Don't you like coffee?" gets answered "Yes" even when the honest answer in English would be "No, I don't."
Student sheet + teacher notes Why Korean students drop "it" and "there" from English sentences
Korean students drop "it" and "there" because Korean sentences don't need a dummy subject to be grammatical; the real subject can sit anywhere or disappear entirely, so direct translation produces sentences like "Is raining" or "Has many students."
Student sheet + teacher notes- Elementary
Why Korean students say "he" when they mean "she"
Korean speakers mix up he and she in English because spoken Korean almost never uses a pronoun at all: subjects get dropped once the listener knows who's being discussed, so the habit of gender-marking every third-person reference never forms.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Adult
Uncountable nouns trip up Korean speakers: advice, information, furniture
Korean students write "advices," "informations," and "many furnitures" because Korean nouns don't grammatically mark count versus mass the way English does. The fix isn't a rule they memorize once. It's a list they memorize slowly, noun by noun.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
Why Korean students say "more easy": a quick fix for comparatives
Korean adds 더 (more) to any adjective to form comparatives, so students directly translate "더 쉬운" (deo swiun) as "more easy." English splits adjectives into -er and more + adjective by syllable count, a rule Korean doesn't have. Here's how to drill the pattern until it sticks.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
"Go to home" and "go home": why Korean students add articles where English drops them
Korean speakers often say "go to the home" or "at the school" because Korean uses location particles (-에, -에서 (-e, -eseo)) everywhere. English drops articles with certain places when you're talking about their function, not the building. Here's how to drill the difference.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
"I am eating" vs "I eat": teaching continuous tenses to Korean speakers
Korean has no direct grammatical equivalent to the English continuous aspect, so students treat "I eat" and "I am eating" as interchangeable. This breaks present habits, future plans, and polite refusals. Here's why it happens and how to drill the distinction.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Elementary
Korean students drop -ed past tense mid-sentence: why it happens and how to drill it out
Korean verbs don't conjugate by tense the way English does, so students produce "Yesterday I walk to school" even after years of study. The error sits deeper than most teachers think, and quick substitution drills don't fix it.
Student sheet + teacher notes - Middle school
Korean speakers and the missing plural -s
Korean marks plurality only when it matters and usually drops the marker after a number, so "three book" is not carelessness. It is a habit carried straight over from a language where the number already did the work.
Student sheet + teacher notes Why do Korean students say 'I went to station' without 'the'?
Korean has no articles, so learners omit 'a', 'an', and 'the' or scatter them randomly. The fix is teaching definiteness as a binary question: does the listener already know which one you mean?
Student sheet + teacher notesWhy do Korean students say 'I ate lunch' when they mean 'I've eaten lunch'?
Korean has no direct equivalent to English present perfect tense, so students translate past actions using simple past. This creates confusion about whether an action connects to now or finished completely in the past.
Student sheet + teacher notes