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Se tromper – To mistaken, get wrong

Se tromper – To mistaken, get wrong

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

French Word of the Day lesson: Se tromper (to mistaken, 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.

Word of the Day lessons

This is a French lesson explaining the meaning of "se tromper" (to mistaken, to get wrong).

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David Issokson
David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

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