Tôi đã lầm.

me

Breakdown of Tôi đã lầm.

• đã: (perfective marker)
• lầm: to be mistaken

Questions & Answers about Tôi đã lầm.

What does each word in Tôi đã lầm mean?

• Tôi = I
• đã = a marker that often shows a completed action or a past-time sense
• lầm = to be mistaken / to be wrong / to make a mistake

So word-for-word, the sentence is roughly I already was mistaken or I was wrong.

Why is đã used here?

Đã often marks something as completed or as belonging to the past.

In Tôi đã lầm, it tells you the speaker is talking about a mistake that has already happened. In natural English, you usually would not translate it literally as already every time. Instead, you would often just say:

• I was wrong.
• I was mistaken.

So đã adds a past/completed feeling, even if English expresses that more simply.

Is lầm a verb or an adjective here?

It behaves like a stative verb in Vietnamese.

Vietnamese often uses verbs where English might use to be + adjective. So instead of needing a separate word for was, Vietnamese can simply say:

• Tôi lầm = I am mistaken / I am wrong
• Tôi đã lầm = I was mistaken / I was wrong

So lầm is best understood as a verb meaning to be mistaken or to err.

Why is there no word for was in the sentence?