How to say, "I misunderstood." - svp

Mark S.B1Kwiziq community member

How to say, "I misunderstood." - svp

If I wanted to say, "I misunderstood," would any one of the following be acceptable?

Je me suis mépris. 

J'ai mal compris.

Je me suis trompé.

Asked 2 weeks ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Mark, 

‘ Je me suis trompé ‘ and ‘ Je me suis mépris ‘ are not quite the same as ‘ j’ai mal compris ‘.

‘J’ai mal compris ‘  translates as the relatively benign/neutral ( in terms of blame/cause )  -  ‘ I misunderstood ‘. You are not saying why you misunderstood, or that it was your ‘ fault ‘.

The other 2 are more ‘ mea-culpa ‘ statements - ‘ I made a mistake/ I was wrong ‘.

CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Mark,

Maarten is correct about all 3 expressions (and their meaning)!

Just one little pointer: "je me suis mépris" is not common at all ; using the verb "se méprendre" is extremely rare and is very formal (you might encounter this verb is literature but not in an everyday context/conversation).

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Mark S. asked:

How to say, "I misunderstood." - svp

If I wanted to say, "I misunderstood," would any one of the following be acceptable?

Je me suis mépris. 

J'ai mal compris.

Je me suis trompé.

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