How to say “thought” in Chinese
thought (mistakenly)
“Thought” in Chinese is 以为, yǐ wéi: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
以为 is read yǐ wéi: 2 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
Its second reading is wéi, “be, do”.
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “以为”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 以为. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 我以为今天是星期五。wǒyǐwéijīntiānshìxīngqīwǔI thought today was Friday.
- 我以为会议已经结束了wǒyǐwéihuìyìyǐjīngjiéshùleI thought the meeting was already over.
- 大家都以为很难实际上很简单dàjiādōuyǐwéihěnnán,shíjìshànghěnjiǎndānEveryone thought it was hard, but in fact it's simple.
- 我以为今天是晴天，不料下起了大雨。wǒyǐwéijīntiānshìqíngtiān,búliàoxiàqǐledàyǔI thought it would be a sunny day, but suddenly it started pouring.
More words from the lesson “I believe”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “thought” in Chinese?
“Thought” in Chinese is 以为, pinyin yǐwéi.
What does 以为 mean?
以为 (yǐwéi) means “thought (mistakenly)”.
How do you write 以为?
以为 is 2 characters: 以 (yǐ) — by means of; 为 (wèi) — for, for the sake of. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 以为?
以为 is read yǐwéi. Tones: yǐ — third tone, wéi — second tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“thought” in the lesson “I believe”
This word is from the topic “Work and business” of HSK 3. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
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