You write an English sentence, and it feels stiff. Heavy. You can’t quite say why. Often it’s the passive, and German nudges you straight into it.

“A decision was made.” “The report was finished.” “Mistakes were made.” All correct, but slow and oddly faceless. Nobody’s actually doing anything.

Here’s a test I came across, and it’s weirdly useful. Add “by zombies” after the verb. If it fits, the sentence is passive.

“The report was finished by zombies.” Fits. So make it active, and a real person steps back in: “We finished the report.“

Active isn’t a rule, and the passive has its place. But most of the time active is clearer and quicker because it says who did what.

Quick win: Read your next English email and drop “by zombies” into a heavy sentence. If it fits, try rewriting it with a real person at the front.

💬 Which are you, team passive or team active?

In English meetings, you might feel like the tortoise. Everyone else races ahead while you’re a step behind, still searching for the word.

You’ve probably decided that slow means losing.

But look again at the old story. The tortoise was slow the whole way. Slowness was never his problem. He won because he didn’t stop. The hare lost not because he was slow, but because at some point he sat down.

Being slower in English than in your own language isn’t a flaw. It’s the pace of doing something difficult in real time. The only thing that holds you back is stopping.

Quick win: Next time you feel too slow in English, don’t stop. Finish the sentence at your own pace. Steady gets there. Silent doesn’t.

💬 Where do you feel slowest in English?

You’re telling an English-speaking colleague about a film, the German version, with the voices replaced. So you reach for the word that sounds right. “It was synchronised into German.“

Close, but not quite. In German, that process is “synchronisieren“. In English, the word is “dubbing“. A film is dubbed into another language.

“Synchronise” exists in English too, but it means timing two things to happen together, like synchronised swimming. Use it for a film, and your colleague pictures swimmers, not voices.

Quick win: When you mean the German voice version of a film, say “it was dubbed” or “the dubbed version“. Save “synchronise” for clocks and swimmers.

💬 Which English film word always makes you pause?

Listen to the sentence you say about your English. “I’m not fluent.” “I can’t explain this clearly.” “I don’t speak up in meetings.“

Said like that, each one sounds like a fact. A door closing.

Now add one word at the end. “I’m not fluent yet.” “I can’t explain this clearly yet.” “I don’t speak up in meetings yet.”

Same sentence, different door. “Yet” turns a verdict into a stage you’re moving through. It says you’re not there now. It doesn’t say you never will be.

Nothing about your English changed. The way you see it, it did.

Quick win: Next time you catch yourself saying “I can’t” about your English, add “yet” and say it again. Notice how the sentence stops being a wall and starts being a step.

💬 What’s one English “I can’t” you could add a “yet” to?

You’re invited to a black-tie event. You tell your English-speaking colleague you’ll wear your smoking.

They pause. “Your… what?“

In German, a Smoking is that elegant formal jacket. In English, “smoking” only means the thing you do with a cigarette. Say it about clothes, and you’ll get a polite, puzzled look.

The English words are ‘dinner jacket‘ (more British) or ‘tuxedo‘ or ‘tux’ for short (more American). Both mean exactly what your Smoking means. (The German word actually comes from an old English “smoking jacket”, which is why it feels like it should work. It just stopped working a century ago.)

Quick win: Next black-tie invitation, say “I’ll wear a dinner jacket” or “I’ll wear a tux. ” Same outfit, no confused looks.

💬 Which English false friend has caught you out?