For example, English speakers commonly mix up your/you’re or there/their/they’re. I’m curious about similar mistakes in other languages.

  • That English natives have so much trouble distinguishing effect from affect keeps surprising me.

    As for Dutch, the dt-issue is presented as if it is this hugely complicated set of rules. While in reality it is dead simple. Third person in the present time is ALWAYS conjugated as stem+t for regular verbs, except in ONE case: when the stem already ends in t. Dt isn’t special, it’s just the rule applied to all stems.

    • My school taught this whole convoluted system that was meant to help students with multiple tenses, but I just learned to apply the “ik loop” mnemonic which is so effortless (to native speakers at least.)

      Sometimes I have to think once or twice about soft ketchup/'t Kofschip for the past participle, but that’s about it.

      • But again, there is no special exception for dt. Again it’s the regular rule applied: second person conjugation in questions is just the stem for regular verbs.