- Forum >
- Topic: Portuguese >
- "Eu não pensei que você erras…
27 Comments
Eu não pensei que você errase: a person is your idol, but then he tells you some of his mistakes when writing a song, singing, etc. You can use this sentence. (General mistakes).
Eu não pensei que você erraria: it is specific and refers to a singular mistake (eu não pensei que você erraria este exercício na prova).
2584
How about "I did not think that you made mistakes"? I got it wrong, but could it be a valid answer?
I disagree a little because you would only say to someone "I didn't think you would make a mistake' after they have just made a mistake and therefore proving your theory wrong. Or do you mean that the unrealized event is the belief of making no errors? Sorry I'm really struggling with the subjunctive!
This sentence, in other words, mean:
- I didn't think you were a person that made mistakes
- I though you were the kind of person who would never make a mistake
So, the version with "a mistake" doesn't sound very good in the first one (the one that follows the same structure as the translation), while the version with "mistakes" sounds perfect.
In many cases a good fit for the meaning is "err": http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/err
Unfortunately, except in some set expressions, "err" sounds quite formal, some would say archaic, and has mostly fallen out of use. It survives as a useful space saving device in newspaper headlines, though, as a search for "erred" in Google News will demonstrate.
296
Why couldn't this sentence be translated as I didn't think that you missed?,(but I walked over to the target and saw that you did).