IELTS Writing Mistakes Persian (Farsi) Speakers Make: Understanding L1 Interference

How Persian language patterns create systematic English errors—and strategies to overcome them

Iranian IELTS test-takers often struggle to break past Band 5-6 in Writing, despite having studied English for years. Persian (Farsi) is a sophisticated language with a rich literary tradition, but its structures differ significantly from English in ways that create predictable interference patterns.

Understanding these patterns transforms vague grammar struggles into specific, fixable issues.

The Article Challenge

Persian doesn't have articles equivalent to "the," "a," or "an." Definiteness in Persian is indicated through word order, context, the direct object marker "را" (ra), or is simply understood.

This makes articles one of the most common error types for Persian speakers.

Common Patterns

Missing articles:

• "I want to buy car" → "I want to buy a car"
• "Sun rises in east" → "The sun rises in the east"
• "He is doctor" → "He is a doctor"
• "Government should act" → "The government should act"

Incorrect article use:

• "The education is important" → "Education is important" (general concept)
• "I like the music" → "I like music" (music in general)
• "The people believe..." → "People believe..." (people in general)

When to Use Which Article

"The": Both writer and reader know which specific thing
"A/An": Singular countable, not specific, one of many
No article: General statements about categories

The Fix

Before every noun, consciously decide:

1. Is this specific or general?
2. Is this countable or uncountable?
3. Is this singular or plural?

Then apply the appropriate article (or no article).

Word Order: SOV vs. SVO

Persian follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order:

• من کتاب می‌خوانم (Man ketab mikhanam) = "I book read"

English follows Subject-Verb-Object (SVO):

• "I read books"

Where Problems Emerge

Simple sentences: Persian speakers usually adjust easily.

Complex sentences: Relative clauses and embedded information cause issues.

Persian pattern: "Yesterday at library the student I met"
English pattern: "The student I met at the library yesterday"

Modifier placement:

• Persian often places modifiers after nouns
• English places most adjectives before nouns

Common Errors

• "The man tall" → "The tall man"
• "Situation difficult" → "Difficult situation"
• "Tomorrow the meeting important" → "The important meeting tomorrow"

The Fix

In English descriptions: adjective + noun (not noun + adjective)
For complex information, use relative clauses after the noun: "the man who is tall"

Subject-Verb Agreement

Persian verbs conjugate for person and number, but the patterns differ from English. The third person singular distinction in English (he goes, she walks, it works) sometimes gets missed.

Common Errors

Missing third person -s:

• "The government want to improve..." → "The government wants to improve..."
• "Technology change our lives" → "Technology changes our lives"
• "A student need guidance" → "A student needs guidance"

Agreement with complex subjects:

• "The number of students are increasing" → "The number of students is increasing"
• "One of the reasons are..." → "One of the reasons is..."

The Fix

Find the true subject. Is it singular or plural? Make the verb match.

Preposition Errors

Persian prepositions don't map directly to English. Some Persian constructions don't need prepositions where English does, and vice versa.

Common Mistakes

"I am agree"

In Persian, موافقم (movafegam) works as "I am in agreement." This translates to:

• Incorrect: "I am agree with this idea"
• Correct: "I agree with this idea" (no "am")

"Married with"

• Incorrect: "She is married with a doctor"
• Correct: "She is married to a doctor"

"Interested about"

• Incorrect: "I am interested about this topic"
• Correct: "I am interested in this topic"

"Different than"

• Incorrect: "This is different than that"
• Correct: "This is different from that"

Unnecessary prepositions:

• Incorrect: "We discussed about the problem"
• Correct: "We discussed the problem" (no preposition)
• Incorrect: "Please explain about the situation"
• Correct: "Please explain the situation" (no preposition)

The Fix

Learn English preposition collocations as fixed phrases. There's often no logic to transfer from Persian—memorization is necessary.

Tense System Differences

Persian has a different tense/aspect system than English. Some distinctions English makes don't exist in Persian.

Present Perfect vs. Simple Past

Persian doesn't clearly distinguish between "I did" and "I have done" the way English does.

Incorrect: "I have visited Tehran last year"
Correct: "I visited Tehran last year" (specific past time = simple past)

Incorrect: "I live in Tehran since 2015"
Correct: "I have lived in Tehran since 2015" (continuing to now = present perfect)

When to Use Which

Simple past: Finished action with specific time mentioned

• "Yesterday I went..."
• "Last year we saw..."
• "In 2020 they built..."

Present perfect: Connection to present, no specific time, or continuing situation

• "I have visited many countries" (in my life until now)
• "She has lived here for 5 years" (and still does)
• "They have recently announced..." (relevant to now)

Plural Marking

Persian can indicate plurality with the suffix ها (ha) or ان (an), but it's not always required where English requires it.

Common Errors

Missing plurals:

• "Many student believe that..." → "Many students believe that..."
• "There are several reason" → "There are several reasons"
• "Five year ago" → "Five years ago"

The Fix

After quantifiers (many, several, few, some, all, most) or numbers, the noun must be plural.

The Copula Issue

Persian uses است (ast) as a copula, but it's often dropped in colloquial speech and in certain grammatical contexts. This can lead to missing be-verbs in English.

Common Errors

Missing "is/are":

• "This important" → "This is important"
• "The weather very cold" → "The weather is very cold"
• "They very happy" → "They are very happy"

In continuous tenses:

• "I studying now" → "I am studying now"
• "They working on it" → "They are working on it"

The Fix

Check every sentence: does it have a main verb? If you're describing something (adjective) or identifying something (noun), you need a be-verb.

Pronoun Consistency

Persian pronouns don't distinguish gender in the third person—او (u) can mean he, she, or it. This sometimes causes inconsistency in English.

Common Errors

Switching between "he" and "she" when referring to the same person:

• "A student should study hard. She needs to focus. He should also rest."

The Fix

Decide on a pronoun at the beginning and maintain it throughout.

For generic singular nouns, options include:

• "A student should study hard. They should focus." (singular they)
• "Students should study hard. They should focus." (make it plural)

Formal vs. Informal Register

Persian has elaborate formality levels (including تعارف ta'arof conventions). English academic writing requires a specific formal register that differs from conversational English.

For IELTS Writing

Avoid:

• Contractions (don't → do not, can't → cannot)
• Informal words (lots of → many/numerous, gonna → going to)
• Starting sentences with "And" or "But"

Use:

• Formal vocabulary
• Complete sentence structures
• Formal transitions (However, Furthermore, Nevertheless)

Sound-Based Spelling Challenges

Some English sounds don't exist in Persian, which can affect spelling perception.

W/V Confusion

Persian doesn't have the /w/ sound. Words with "w" may be mispronounced and occasionally misspelled.

TH Sounds

Persian lacks /θ/ and /ð/ (as in "think" and "the"). While this primarily affects speaking, awareness helps with word recognition and spelling.

Building Your Error Correction System

Priority Checklist for Persian Speakers

1. Articles — Check every noun for a/an/the or deliberate omission
2. Be-verbs — Are they present where needed?
3. Prepositions — Especially "agree with" (not "am agree"), "interested in"
4. Subject-verb agreement — Third person singular -s
5. Tense consistency — Past simple vs. present perfect

Practice Strategy

Week 1-2: Focus on articles. Check every noun in every sentence.
Week 3-4: Focus on verb tenses and agreement.
Week 5-6: Focus on prepositions and formal register.

The Mindset

Persian is one of the world's great literary languages with a sophisticated grammar system. The interference patterns above aren't signs of weak English—they're predictable results of being fluent in a language that works differently.

You're recalibrating specific features, not learning English from scratch. This is entirely achievable with targeted awareness and practice.

Want to identify exactly which Persian interference patterns affect your writing? Our AI analyzes your essays to find your specific error types and creates a personalized improvement plan.