Most Common Grammatical Errors Hmong Students Make

in English

by

Ya Po Cha

Verb TenseThe 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 ten chickens

ib tug qaib kaum tus qaib

Students may forget to add “s” for plural.

PrepositionsHmong’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 Articles1. 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 Sentence1. 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