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- "Nós erramos."
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871
One of the translation options this word "erramos" shows is "we are wrong." Therefore, Nós erramos should be able to be translated "we are wrong." This should be correct.
Not exactly. To be wrong is to be incorrect, to be innacurate, to be misinformed. To err, or to make a mistake, is to have acted improperly or to be misguided. To be wrong, in English as much as in Portuguese, is more semantic or objective, while to err is based on experience and is more subjective.
This would translate into British English as "We've messed up" (present perfect) the idea being that we're conveying a situation in the present - we have made a problem for ourselves and now have to deal with it.
Since American English tends to eschew the present perfect in favour of the past simple, we end up with a reference to the past to describe a situation in the present. "We messed up" still tends to mean "We have a problem to sort out."
"We make a mistake", would never actually be said in the US and, I don't believe, in the UK either. It would either be "We made a mistake" (for something that just happened) or "We're making a mistake" (for something that is currently happening). Or it's incomplete in the case of saying "We make a mistake when..." Also "We err" or "We have made an error" / "We're making an error", etc, would be the more exact translations I think.
871
I am not a native Portuguese speaker, but my understanding is that "errar" has the meaning of the action "to make a mistake." To be "wrong" would be a state of being and would use the word "erro" For example: Eu fiz um erro. I made a mistake. That is my take on it. "Errar" means action; "erro" is the thing done. Hope that helps.
1159
Dear Delvi : it is not correct to say "Eu fiz um erro". The correct is "Eu cometi um erro" or "Eu errei" (I make a mistake). The setence "Nós erramos" is complicated. Can be "present" (We make mistake) or past (We messed up). All the third personals are complicate, without a context : Nós erramos (present and past)- Nós comemos (presente and past) - Nós dormimos (presente and past) - Nós trabalhamos (presente and past) Ok. Sorry for my mistakes. I am brazilian and I am starting studyng English.
I submitted "we err" and it was accepted. "To err" is an English verb, just doesn't have common usage. I err, you err, he/she errs, etc.
871
Desculpe.... "we err" is a way of saying we have done something wrong, in English. It is not a common way, but it is correct in English. I was wondering if it is also a correct translation of "Nós erramos."
I wrote "we mistake" and it was marked wrong. If "nós bebemos"=we drink then "nós erramos"=we mistake should be grammatically correct both in written and spoken forms... (to 'mistake' is also a verb therefore can be conjugated as such)
Most "nós" conjugations match between present and "pretérito perfeito". This is no exception.
- Nós erramos = past and present
- Nós erramos = We made mistakes / We made a mistake / We missed
- Nós erramos = We make mistakes / We make a mistake / We miss
"Miss" there can only be used in the sense of making mistakes, which is the best option. In bold, the best translations (most natural way of using the sentence in Portuguese) for each tense.
Please refer to Maryanfirpo's reply to Delvi's post regarding "we are wrong":
Not exactly. To be wrong is to be incorrect, to be innacurate, to be misinformed. To err, or to make a mistake, is to have acted improperly or to be misguided. To be wrong, in English as much as in Portuguese, is more semantic or objective, while to err is based on experience and is more subjective.
871
If you are going to talk about a single "mistake" then you would need to write, "We make A mistake." "Mistakes" is a plural word; "mistake" is singular. With the singular, you need an article, "a."
How should it be pronounced. More like with 'h' or sonorous 'r'?
The most common way I've heard is a breathy 'h'. User ThanKwee suggested this resource in another discusssion:
http://blogs.transparent.com/portuguese/how-to-pronounce-the-r-in-portuguese/
The long version is here:
http://hackingportuguese.com/pronunciation/portuguese-r-the-long-version/