equivocarse
verbCEFR B1
What does “equivocarse” mean in English?
to make a mistake, to be wrong
to make a mistake, to be wrong (reflexive — pronoun obligatory)
Example sentences
No tengas miedo de equivocarte cuando hablas; los errores son parte del proceso y los hablantes nativos los entienden perfectamente.
Don't be afraid of making mistakes when you speak; errors are part of the process and native speakers understand them perfectly.
Me equivoqué de clase y llegué al aula de matemáticas en lugar de a la de lengua, lo cual me hizo perder veinte minutos.
I went to the wrong class and arrived at the maths room instead of the language one, which made me lose twenty minutes.
Es normal equivocarse al principio; lo importante es que el alumno se dé cuenta del error y lo corrija, en lugar de que el profesor siempre lo haga por él.
It is normal to make mistakes at the beginning; what matters is that the student notices the mistake and corrects it, rather than the teacher always doing it for them.
How to use it
Equivocarse means 'to make a mistake' or 'to be wrong'. It is a pronominal (reflexive) verb — the reflexive pronoun is obligatory and agrees with the subject: me equivoco, te equivocas, se equivoca, nos equivocamos, os equivocáis, se equivocan. This is a common L1 interference point: English speakers omit the pronoun because English 'to be wrong' and 'to make a mistake' have no reflexive equivalent. Equivocarse can be used absolutely (me equivoqué = I was wrong) or with a prepositional complement (me equivoqué de dirección = I got the wrong address; me equivoqué en la respuesta = I got the answer wrong).
Common mistake
The reflexive pronoun is NOT optional: '*equivoco' is ungrammatical. The correct form is always 'me equivoco'. Also note equivocarse de + noun = to get the wrong X (equivocarse de habitación, de número, de día) — a very common and useful pattern. Do not confuse with fallar (to fail/to let down) or cometer un error (to commit an error, more formal).