<看错>人

[rtf]

Hi,guys!

 

I can`t seem to get my little head around the phrase  看错人. I`m aware that it means 'to mistake sb for sb else', but literally 'to look at sb in the wrong way', 看 meaning 'look (at)', 'watch (TV)'?

 

 

 

Thanks.

[Shelley]

 看错 means a mistake, an oversight, error of judgement.

 

看 does not only mean to look at, watch tv,  it can also mean to read a book, to see, to view as and more.

 

if you look it up in a dictionary it gives many uses and meanings.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[murtiwu]

看错人 usually can be interpreted in two ways.

1. mistook someone for another (as in "I mistook you for your twin".)

2. misjudged someone (as in "I overestimated him", "I thought he was nicer".)

[rtf]

^ Thanks,Shelley. Could you recommend a good Chinese - English - Chinese online (or e-) one,please?

[imron]

Get Pleco with the ABC Dictionary.

[Shelley]

Have agree with imron, get Pleco, buy the basic bundle to start with and then add one of the other dictionaries when you have had time to choose.

 

However as imron has suggested the ABC dictionary , go for it.

[Demonic_Duck]

I don't think this is a dictionary problem, it's more of a grammar problem.

 

看 does indeed mean "look". It's less nuanced than the English "look", because the situations in which it can be used are more broad: 看书 read a book, 看电视 watch TV, 看见 see, 看病 go to the doctor (because the doctor will look at, i.e. examine, what is wrong with you).

 

“看错” is not a single word, and it's certainly not a noun (as the definition "a mistake, an oversight, error of judgement" would suggest). It's a verb with a complement of result. “看错人” is verb-complement-object. For comparison, “看见” (as mentioned above) is another verb-complement construction; you looked, and the result was that you saw. Meanwhile, “看电视” (also mentioned above) is a verb-object construction; the thing that you looked at (or watched) was the TV.

 

Let's break it down further:

 

看 (verb) to look. Simple enough.

错 (complement of result) incorrectly. The result was that you incorrectly identified what was being looked at.

人 (object) person. The thing you looked at and identified incorrectly was a person.

 

You incorrectly identified a person. You saw Jenny and thought she was Helen. You mistook Jenny for Helen. You mistook somebody for somebody else.

 

As for the definition "a mistake, an oversight, error of judgement", CC-CEDICT is a great resource, but it's also a wiki, in which entries are added and checked by volunteers. As such, you can't trust everything you find in there, especially when it pertains to parts of speech (which aren't given explicitly but are often implied by the wording of the definitions).

[Shelley]

Excellent explanation Demonic_Duck.

 

I didn't think it was so much a dictionary problem, more like the OP seemed to think there was only one meaning for 看 which I thought was causing confusion when trying to understand the phrase.

[mandel1luke]

A warning. 看错人 (in the second sense) shouldn't be used lightly. It's a rather hurtful way of saying "I regret knowing you", often used by couples or friends during a quarrel.

[Demonic_Duck]

To elaborate on that second meaning:

 

In that case, the grammar is the same, but “人” is being used in the sense of someone's personality rather than their physical form, and “看” is being used in the sense of judging in an abstract sense rather than physically looking or seeing.

 

Another example of that meaning of 人: “她人很好” - "she is very nice" (literally "her personality is very good").

Another example of that meaning of 看: “你怎么看？” - "what do you think?" (i.e. "what is your judement of the situation?")

[rtf]

Thanks very much to all of you,guys! That was very informative indeed.I really appreciate your help.

 

So to say to someone  'Oh,sorry,I mistook you for someone  else', it should be smth like  对不起，我看错了.

But what about  'Oh,sorry,I mistook you for my friend Zhang'?  My version 对不起，我看错了.我看你是我的张朋友.

 

Thanks again & take care.

[Demonic_Duck]

“看错了” is broader, as no object is specified. You could use it there, but it might be confusing if there wasn't enough context.

 

"Oh, sorry, I mistook you for my friend" could be “对不起，我看错（人）了，以为你是我朋友”.

 

If the person you're saying it to doesn't know Zhang, his name is irrelevant to them. If they know Zhang, you'd just say “老张” or whatever you both call him instead of “我朋友” (but if you're mutual friends you probably wouldn't say “对不起” in that situation, as it's too formal unless you've done something really bad).

[rtf]

我知道了，谢谢。

[davoosh]

Isn't it more common to say 認錯人 （认错 rèn cùo) for 'to mistake somebody for somebody else'? I think I have seen 看錯人 used more in the context that mandel1luke described.