How do English speakers speak English?

english is my 1st language so it comes naturally to me. i'm studying chinese at the moment & am finding it very difficult, especially trying to memorise characters, but you probably find it very easy since it's your 1st language.

i only just recently found out that in english a person says "an" if the noun starts with a vowel (eg an apple, an igloo, an egg), whereas "a" is used if the noun starts with a consonant (eg a cat, a tree, a tower). this is a basic rule that primary school children know!! but being an english native speaker, i just automatically knew that "a apple" or "an cat" sounds wrong even though i didnt know why it sounds wrong

No we do not think about tense any more than you think about your language as you speak it. If one is raised speaking English and it is all around you, then it becomes part of who you are and what you do.

In order that you speak a language well and with ease, you probably need to be immersed in it and speak it constantly. Otherwise that feeling is not going to go away easily.

I don't think about tenses when I speak, but I do know and hear the difference between "I had eaten" and "I ate", and between "I was eating" and "I ate". This will happen to you too and anyone else who listens to X number of hours of conversations in English.

I am learning German, and I listen to "voice chat" chatrooms and it has helped immensely. I use a program called PalTalk (it's like msn or ICQ), and it's free. Just a suggestion.

I don't think about it at all. That is because I speak English native. ;D

I do think about it a lot in the languages I am learning though. (German and Russian)

Do you think about tenses in your native language? Probably not, right? xP

It's the same for anybody speaking a second or third language. Because you think in your own language and then have to translate it in your head. Just take a deep breath first, you'll be fine:)

my first language is english, and i dont really think about it, it just happens

i do use complicated tenses though, i use would have been, should have gone, had been doing

You seem to be speaking english very fine.

When i speak english i dunno if i even think anything..its my language i was raised with.

Umm..

I think you got to only think about the possesive choice (like I, me my) and the tense and you'll be fine.

I dont speak english well too! I can write it well though!

No, we don't think about it because we know it unconsciously. Like you don't think about your first language - you just speak it freely without making mistakes.

i speak persion (farci) and i had learn AMERICAN ENGLISH by RosettaStone . i am ready learn and teach . I would like talk to you Onlin