2

How to say A was misidentified as B?

AがBと誤認されました or AをBと誤認されました?

1 Answer 1

3

Both are grammatical, but have different usages.

"AがBと誤認されました" is a simple direct passive statement:

息子が万引き犯と誤認されました。
My son was misidentified as a shoplifter.

"AをBと誤認されました" is an indirect passive sentence; i.e., someone else (usually the speaker) was (usually negatively) affected by this wrong identification.

(私は)息子を万引き犯と誤認されました。
My son was misidentified as a shoplifter (and I was bothered).

In this example, failing to use indirect passive may sound like you're a little indifferent about your son's trouble.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .