Breakdown of Я часто ошибаюсь, когда говорю по‑русски.
Questions & Answers about Я часто ошибаюсь, когда говорю по‑русски.
No, you cannot say я часто ошибаю. The verb is ошибаться (imperfective, reflexive), and in the 1st person singular it becomes я ошибаюсь.
- ошибаться = to be mistaken / to make mistakes (reflexive verb)
- The reflexive ending -ся / -сь is part of the verb; it’s not optional.
- After a vowel it appears as -сь (ошибаю + сь → ошибаюсь), after a consonant usually as -ся (он ошибается).
So ошибаю by itself is simply wrong; ошибаться doesn’t exist without the reflexive ending in standard Russian.
They’re close in meaning, but not identical:
Я часто ошибаюсь
Literally “I am often wrong / I often make mistakes.”
Focuses more on your being wrong, your state or behavior in general.Я часто делаю ошибки
Literally “I often make mistakes.”
Focuses more on individual mistakes as countable things.
In the original sentence:
- Я часто ошибаюсь, когда говорю по‑русски.
Sounds very natural, general: “I tend to be wrong / make mistakes when I speak Russian.”
You can also say:
- Я часто делаю ошибки, когда говорю по‑русски.
Also correct, a bit more “schoolish,” emphasizing concrete errors (grammar, vocabulary, etc.).
Both are possible, but the most neutral order is:
- Я часто ошибаюсь…
This places часто (often) right before the verb and is the default way to express frequency.
Other options:
Я ошибаюсь часто, когда говорю по‑русски.
Correct, but has a slight emphasis on the result “I make mistakes (and that happens often)”.Часто я ошибаюсь, когда говорю по‑русски.
Moves часто to the start, giving it extra emphasis: “Often, I make mistakes when I speak Russian.”
So the original word order is the most neutral and common.
In Russian, когда introduces a subordinate clause (a “when” clause), so it is normally separated by a comma:
- Я часто ошибаюсь, когда говорю по‑русски.
Main clause: Я часто ошибаюсь
Subordinate clause: когда говорю по‑русски
If you switch the order, you still use a comma:
- Когда говорю по‑русски, я часто ошибаюсь.
So the comma is required by standard Russian punctuation rules.
Both are correct:
- когда говорю по‑русски
- когда я говорю по‑русски
In Russian, the subject pronoun я can be dropped when it’s clear from the verb ending:
- говорю can only be “I speak”, so я is understood.
Adding я:
- Когда я говорю по‑русски, я часто ошибаюсь.
is a bit more explicit or emphatic, but not necessarily stronger; both versions sound natural.
Russian does not have a separate present continuous form like English (I speak vs I am speaking). The same present tense form covers both:
- Я говорю = I speak / I am speaking (depending on context).
In this sentence:
- Я часто ошибаюсь, когда говорю по‑русски.
The present tense говорю with часто (“often”) clearly means a repeated, habitual situation: “when(ever) I speak Russian.”
There is no need (and no way) to mark “am speaking” separately.
Говорю is the 1st person singular present of говорить (to speak, to talk):
- Infinitive: говори́ть
- я говорю́
- ты говори́шь
- он/она говори́т
- мы говори́м
- вы говори́те
- они говоря́т
Note the stress:
- говори́ть (stress on -ить)
- говорю́ (stress moves to the last syllable, -ю)
По‑русски literally means “in a Russian way / in Russian” and in this context = “in the Russian language.”
The pattern is:
- по‑
- adjective base + ‑ски / ‑цки / ‑кому, etc. → adverb of manner, often “in X language”:
Examples (languages):
- по‑русски – in Russian
- по‑англи́йски – in English
- по‑францу́зски – in French
- по‑неме́цки – in German
In the sentence, говорю по‑русски = “I speak in Russian.”
Both are correct, with very similar meaning, but usage is slightly different:
говорю по‑русски
Very natural, everyday, short and idiomatic. Most common choice in speech.говорю на ру́сском (языке)
Literally “I speak in the Russian language.”
Also correct; a bit more formal or explicit, often used when contrasting languages, or in more careful / official speech.
What you should not say is:
- *говорю по‑русскому – this is wrong in standard Russian.
So prefer по‑русски or на русском (языке).
Spelling rule: adverbs formed with по‑ + an adjective or pronoun + ‑ому / ‑ему / ‑и / ‑ки / ‑цки are usually written with a hyphen.
Examples:
- по‑ру́сски, по‑англи́йски, по‑францу́зски
- по‑мо́ему (in my opinion), по‑тво́ему, по‑ихнему (colloquial)
So по‑русски must be written with a hyphen.
No, it should be lowercase:
- по‑ру́сски
In Russian, names of languages and related adverbs are written with a lowercase letter:
- ру́сский язы́к – Russian (language)
- по‑ру́сски – in Russian
- англи́йский язы́к, по‑англи́йски
- неме́цкий язы́к, по‑неме́цки
So capitalizing it (По‑Русски) would be incorrect.
Yes, perfectly:
- Когда говорю по‑русски, я часто ошибаюсь.
This is just as natural as:
- Я часто ошибаюсь, когда говорю по‑русски.
The meaning is the same. Beginning with Когда… puts a bit more focus on the condition (“When I speak Russian…”), but both are normal word orders, and the comma is still required.
The perfective verb is ошиби́ться (“to make a mistake / to be mistaken” once, as a completed action).
Compare:
Я часто ошиба́юсь, когда говорю по‑ру́сски.
I often make mistakes / I’m often wrong when I speak Russian.
– Imperfective, repeated / habitual action.Я одна́жды си́льно ошибся / ошиблась.
I made a big mistake once.
– Perfective, a single completed event.
So in your sentence, because you talk about what happens often, the imperfective ошибаюсь is the correct choice.