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.

Subj. + 以为 ⋯⋯

The phrase will be a whole new statement that is actually incorrect.

Examples

• 我 以为 他 是 英国 人 。Wǒ yǐwéi tā shì Yīngguó rén.I thought he is British.
• 我们 以为 只 有 家人 知道 。Wǒmen yǐwéi zhǐ yǒu zhǐ zhīdào.We thought only family members know.
• 很多 人 以为 大 城市 什么 都 贵。Wǒ yǐwéi tǔdòu jiùshì hóngshǔ.I thought potato is sweet potato.
• 所有 人 都 以为 你 才 二十 岁 ！Suǒyǒu rén dōu yǐwéi nǐ cái èrshí suì.Everybody thought you're only twenty.
• 我 以为 你们 分手 了 。Wǒ yǐwéi nǐmen fēnshǒu le.I thought you guys broke up.
• 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 students all understood.
• 大家 都 以为 他 是 大 老板 。Dàjiā dōu yǐwéi tā shì dà lǎobǎn.Everybody thought he's 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's your mother.
• 你 怎么 会 去 吃 四川 火锅 ？我 以为 你 从来 不 吃辣 。Nǐ zěnme huì qù chī Sìchuān huǒguō? Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ cónglái bù chī là.Why would you go to Sichuan hotpot? I thought you never eat spicy food.

See also

• Result complement "-cuo"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Short-term Spoken Chinese: Elementary (汉语口语速成基础篇) (pp. 106) →buy
• Contemporary Chinese 4 (当代中文4) (pp. 31) →buy