Talk:epäillä
Doubt/suspect[edit]
This is as much to aid my learning as anything else: using English, if I were to say "I suspect you killed him", it indicates that I think you have committed murder, whereas if I say "I doubt you killed him", it indicates that I think you have not. In Finnish, both doubt and suspect translate as epäillä. If I say "epäilen, että murhasit hänet", does that mean I suspect you or doubt you? How does one differentiate between the two when speaking? Thanks. --Estesark 16:39, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
Response[edit]
Over 10 years later, and I have an answer for you. I asked my Finnish teacher this very question, and she said "epäillä is a terrible verb that can mean either to doubt or to suspect" and the sentence you created is ambiguous and could mean either. The meaning is more often "to suspect" than "to doubt", though.
- "Epäilen, että hän teki sen." => I suspect that s/he did it.
- "Epäilen, osaako hän tehdä sitä." => I doubt that s/he can do it.
Hope that helps! --Rendall (talk) 12:13, 23 April 2020 (UTC)
- I'll see if I can add a usage note about this. — surjection ⟨??⟩ 15:57, 23 April 2020 (UTC)