I'm not sure that "pronounced something wrong" is good English - incorrectly or badly?

alison g.C1Kwiziq community member

I'm not sure that "pronounced something wrong" is good English - incorrectly or badly?

Asked 7 years ago
Ron T.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Alison, I think the better translation would be: You always mispronounced this word, so the French phrase would be: Tu prononçais toujours mal ce mot. The French equivalent of mispronounce, from the Collins-Robert Dictionary is «mal prononcer» or syntactically «prononcer mal» J'espère que cela vous aidera et bonne chance.
AurélieNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq
Bonjour Alison (and Ron)! Thank you for these useful remarks. I've now updated the example accordingly. Bonne journée !
J. M.A1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
I think agruing that it's wrong to say "I pronounced it wrong" is imposing excessive, artificial logic on English. The argument is that a verb requires an adverb; you can't apply an adjective to a verb. But we say "I made it small," for example--we don't require one to say "I made it smally."
Becky L.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I think renoncait without the accent should be marked as a Nearly Answer (not an Incorrect answer)

alison g. asked:

I'm not sure that "pronounced something wrong" is good English - incorrectly or badly?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Getting that for you now...