Today we’ll have a look at the reflexive verb se tromper, which has several translations including “to mistaken”, to get wrong” and “to mistake”.
se tromper
to mistaken, to get wrong
Se tromper
Word origin
In the non-reflexive form, tromper means to cheat, trick or deceive. Before the fourteenth century, jouer de la trompe meant to play or to mock.
Interestingly, the English word “trump”came from Middle English “trompe” which of course was borrowed from French. The definition of “to trump” in English is “to win by saying or doing something better” (Source: Google search results attributed to Oxford Langauges).
Example sentences
These first two examples show how the French most commonly use se tromper in the sense of “to mistaken” or “to get wrong”.
Pardon, je me trompe sur votre prénom.
Sorry, I’m getting your name wrong.
Pardon, je me suis trompé de numéro.
Excuse me. I got the wrong number.
For this sentence, se tromper sur means “to be mistaken about”.
Je me suis trompé sur ce garçon.
I was wrong about that boy.
These final two sentences use tromper in the non-reflexive form, meaning “to cheat on” or “deceive”.
Le patron trompe tous ses employées.
The boss is cheating all of his employees.
Il paraît que l’homme trompe sa femme.
It seems that the man is cheating on his wife.
Conclusion
Et voilà ! Now you know how to use se tromper in French. Not check out our lesson covering another useful reflexive verb se méfier (to be wary of).
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References
