Difference between revisions of "Expressing "mistakenly think that" with "yiwei""

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* 他 <em>以为</em> 美洲 是 印度。真 笨!
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* 他 <em>以为</em> 美洲 是 印度。真 笨!<span class="expl">(He thought that America was India)</span>
* 我 <em>以为</em> 那 瓶 啤酒 没有 那么 重。
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* 我 <em>以为</em> 那 瓶 啤酒 没有 那么 重。<span class="expl">(oHe thought that that bottle of beer would not be so heavy)</span>
* 经理 每 天 骂 这个 骂 那个,他 <em>以为</em> 他 是 老板 呢?
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* 经理 每 天 骂 这个 骂 那个,他 <em>以为</em> 他 是 老板 呢?<span class="expl">(He thought it was the boss)</span>
  
 
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Revision as of 09:01, 7 March 2013

Chinese-grammar-wiki-wei.jpg

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.

Subject + 以为 + Phrase

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

Examples

  • 以为 美洲 是 印度。真 笨!(He thought that America was India)
  • 以为 那 瓶 啤酒 没有 那么 重。(oHe thought that that bottle of beer would not be so heavy)
  • 经理 每 天 骂 这个 骂 那个,他 以为 他 是 老板 呢?(He thought it was the boss)

See also


Sources and further reading

Books