错/錯 cuò — wrong, mistaken

Meanings

1. 1

   wrong, mistaken

   Not right. It usually reports an event rather than a quality: 我错了 "I was wrong", 你写错了 "you wrote it wrong". After a verb it works as a result complement.

   adjective
2. 2

   not bad, pretty good (in 不错)

   adjective

Example sentences

• 这个字你写错了。/這個字你寫錯了。Zhège (fourth tone, falling) zì (fourth tone, falling) nǐ (third tone, dipping) xiěcuò (third tone, dipping) le. (neutral tone)···

  You’ve written this character wrong.

• 对不起，是我错了。/對不起，是我錯了。Duìbuqǐ, (fourth tone, falling) shì (fourth tone, falling) wǒ (third tone, dipping) cuò (fourth tone, falling) le. (neutral tone)···

  Sorry — I was the one who was wrong.

Common mistakes

• Not quite我很错。

  Correct我错了。

  错 reports that something has gone wrong, so it takes 了 rather than a degree adverb. 很错 is as odd as "I am very wrong" would be.

Similar words