How to Say ‘I thought’ in Traditional Chinese
我還以為
wǒ hái yǐ wèi
[waw hai ee way]
💬 Usage Tip: [還以為] is used when what you thought turns out not to be true: [我還以為你不來了] = "I thought you weren't coming after all." It often carries a mild "but actually..." feeling.
Phrase Breakdown
我
wǒ
[waw]
I; me
The first-person pronoun used to refer to yourself.
我還以為司機走錯了。
I thought the driver had gone the wrong way.
還
hái
[hai]
still; also; in addition
Here it adds nuance to show a prior assumption, like 'actually' or 'even.'
我還以為你不知道這條路。
I even thought you didn't know this road.
以為
yǐ wèi
[ee way]
to think mistakenly; to assume
Used when you believed something was true but later found out it was wrong.
我還以為你走錯了，原來不是。
I thought you had gone the wrong way, but it turns out that wasn't the case.
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