Expressing "mistakenly think that" with "yiwei"

We often have mistaken beliefs about various topics. With this article, we learn how to express them in Chinese!

Structure

In English, the verb "to think" can imply that the belief is incorrect, e.g. in "I thought it was legal here." Chinese has a specific verb for this kind of mistaken belief: 以为 (yǐwéi). Literally these two characters mean "take to be," i.e. someone takes one thing to be something else.

Examples

我以为他是英国人。 Wǒ yǐwéi tā shì Yīngguó rén. I thought he was British.
我们以为你不在家。 Wǒmen yǐwéi nǐ bù zài jiā . We thought you weren't at home.
同事们都以为我二十岁。 Tóngshì men dōu yǐwéi wǒ èrshí suì. My colleagues all thought I was twenty.
我们都以为你生气了。 Wǒmen dōu yǐwéi nǐ shēngqì le. We all thought you were angry.
老师以为学生都听懂了。 Lǎoshī yǐwéi xuéshēng dōu tīngdǒng le. The teacher thought all the students understood.
大家都以为他是大老板。 Dàjiā dōu yǐwéi tā shì dà lǎobǎn. Everybody thought he was the big boss.
她是你外婆？我以为是你妈妈。 Tā shì nǐ wàipó? Wǒ yǐwéi shì nǐ māma. She's your grandma? I thought she was your mother.
你去吃四川火锅了？我以为你不爱吃辣。 Nǐ qù chī Sìchuān huǒguō le? Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ bù ài chī là. You went to eat Sichuan hotpot? I thought you don't like eating spicy food.
你们分手了？我以为你们还在一起。 Nǐmen fēnshǒu le?
Wǒ yǐwéi nǐmen hái zài yīqǐ. You guys broke up? I thought you were still together.
我看到那张照片，以为你有男朋友了。 Wǒ kàndào nà zhāng zhàopiàn, yǐwéi nǐ yǒu nánpéngyou le. I saw that picture and I thought you had a boyfriend.

Expressing "mistakenly think that" with "yiwei"

Contents

Structure

Examples

See also

Sources and further reading

Books