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.
• 你 以为 只 有 你 知道 ？Nǐ yǐwéi zhǐ yǒu nǐ zhīdào?You think you are the only one who knows?
• 我 以为 土豆 就是 红薯 。Wǒ yǐwéi tǔdòu jiùshì hóngshǔ.I thought potato is sweet potato.
• 你 以为 你 是 老大 吗 ？Do you think you are the boss here?
• 很多 人 都 以为 我 二十 几 岁 。Hěn duō rén dōu yǐwéi wǒ èrshí jǐ suì.Many people thought I'm in my twenties.
• 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.
• 你 以为 全 世界 都 跟 你 一样 有钱 ？Nǐ yǐwéi quán shìjiè dōu gēn nǐ yīyàng yǒuqián?You thought .
• 我 以为 你俩 分手 了 。Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ liǎ fēnshǒu le.I thought you two broke up.
• 你 这样 说 让 我 以为 你 不 想 来 。The way you talked made me think that you don't want to come.

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