5 common Italian learner mistakes

Speaking a language is not easy. Ci vogliono pazienza, motivazione e costanza. You need patience, motivation and perseverance. And with a little more attention you could avoid doing common mistakes.

Vediamo più in dettaglio 5 errori comuni:

1) Qualche ragazzi (wrong)
This is a very common mistake. Anyway, the rule is clear and, when rules are clear (it's not often with the Italian language), you only have to apply them. 
"Qualche" è un aggettivo indefinito invariabile che si usa solo al singolare. We use it only with singular nouns (masculine and feminine). 

Esempio: Qualche ragazzo          Qualche ragazza 

As an alternative, you can use "alcuni/alcune" with the same meaning. "Alcuni/alcune" è un aggettivo indefinito che si usa solo al plurale. We use it only with plural nouns.

Esempio: Alcuni ragazzi        Alcune ragazze

2) La gente dicono (wrong)
Another common mistake. From my teacher experience, many students use the word "gente" as a plural noun. E, per questo motivo, usano il verbo alla terza persona plurale. Niente di più sbagliato. Nothing could be more wrong. When you use this word as subject, you must use third person singular.

Esempio: La gente dice ...

As an alternative, you can use the word "le persone" with the same meaning. Esempio: Le persone dicono ... 

3) Vivo in Londra (wrong)
It's never easy to use the prepositions "a" and "in" as prepositions of place. Anyway, there's definitely something in here: when you want to indicate a motion/direction or a state, you usually have to use "a" with cities and "in" with countries, geographical regions, continents.  

Esempio: Vivo a Londra      Fra una settimana vado a Londra
                 Vivo in Francia    Fra una settimana vado in Francia

4) Io piace la pizza (wrong)
Una cosa deve essere chiara: il verbo "piacere" e il verbo "to like" hanno due costruzioni diverse. They have two different logical structures. If i say "Giovanni likes pizza", "Giovanni" is the subject and "pizza" is the direct object. In Italian you say "A Giovanni piace la pizza". But, in this case, "la pizza" is the subject and "a Giovanni" is the indirect object. 

Esempio: A Marco e a Luca piace andare a ballare (Marco and Luca like going dancing)
                Mi piacciono gli spaghetti (I like spaghetti)
                Mi piaci (I like you) 

5) Studio italiano per tre mesi (wrong)
When you use prepositions of time, "da" and "per" can make trouble. If you want to state something that began in the past and still lasts, you have to use the present tense (or, in some cases, the continuous present tense) and the preposition "da". If you want to state something that began and ended in the past, you have to use the past tense (il passato prossimo) and the preposition "per".

Esempio: Studio italiano da tre mesi 
                 Ho studiato italiano per tre mesi