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.
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.
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 ‘.
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 !
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