Most Common Grammatical
Errors Hmong Students Make
in English
by
Ya Po Cha
Verb Tense
The Hmong language has no verb tense.
e.g. Today, he goes to the farm.
Hnub no, nws mus tom teb.
Yesterday, he went to the farm.
Hag Hmo, nws mus tom teb.
Hmong English learners often make
mistakes on verb tenses.
Plural
In the Hmong language, changing from
singular to plural does not warrant for
adding an “s” to the end.
e.g. one chicken
ib tug qaib
ten chickens
kaum tus qaib
Students may forget to add “s” for plural.
Prepositions
Hmong’s concept of preposition is
sometimes different from English.
e.g. on the table
nyob saum rooj
up the tree
nyob saum ntoo
in the box
nyob hauv lub thawv
under the table nyob hauv qab rooj
Prepositions are sometimes used
incorrectly.
Misuse of Articles
1. Hmong language has many articles
representing “the” but no “a” or “an.”
e.g.
The dog chases the ball.
Tus dev caum lub pob.
2. “The” is part of a long list of classifiers
used in the Hmong language.
e.g.
I have 3 birds.
Kuv muaj 3 tug noog.
Articles and classifiers may be misused.
Word Order in a Sentence
1. The adjective always follows the noun.
The yellow bird is in the red cage.
Tus noog daj nyob hauv lub tawb liab.
2. The object always follows the subject.
Give me your name.
Qhia koj lub npe rau kuv.
Hmong students may place words in
the wrong order.
Incomplete Sentences
Sometimes Hmong students may use
broken phrases, sentences or questions
that are incomplete. This makes perfect
sense in Hmong.
e.g. Dua twg lawm? (Nws dua twg lawm?)
Where gone? (Where has he gone?)
Hmong students may use incomplete
sentences or phrases thinking that they are
complete.
Possessive Terms
Hmong do not have possessive pronouns
or ‘s. Istead, a classifier is placed after the
noun or pronoun to indicate possessive.
e.g. This is my hand.
Nov yog kuv txhais tes.
Students may have problems with
possessive expressions.
No Verb Conjugation
Hmong do not conjugate verbs.
e.g. I do. Kuv ua.
He does. Nw ua.
They do. Lawv ua.
You did. Koj ua.
Verb conjugation can be a confusing
concept for Hmong students.
“be”
The verb “be” has 4 meanings and no forms.
1. nyob: Kuv nyob nov.
I am here.
2. yog: Koj yog poj niam.
You are a woman.
3. ua:
Lawv ua siab loj.
They are brave.
4. muaj: Nws Muaj 15 xyoos.
He is 15 years old.
Hmong students may have difficulties using
the conjugated and correct form of “be”.
Subject-Verb Agreement
In the Hmong language, the verb is fixed
disregarding the singular or plural nature
of the noun.
e.g.
Tus dev noj nqaij. Cov dev noj nqaij.
The dog eats meat. The dogs eat meat.
Students may overlook subject-verb
agreement.
Multiple Nouns and Verb
Agreement
When there are more than one noun in
the same sentence, Hmong students
might have a difficult time figuring out
which noun the verb has to agree with.
e.g. My brother’s dogs’ feet are dirty.
am is
are are
Students have a difficulty using the
correct verb form with the proper subject.
Paired Objects
The concept of pair in Hmong refers to
detached objects like shoes, gloves, etc.
Paired and attached objects such as pants
is considered one object.
e.g. I have one pants.
Hmong students may not use “a pair of”
properly.
The End