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What is the difference between vermuten and erraten?
They both mean somehow guessing.
I came to think that erraten is actually closer to the meaning "guessing", while vermuten is in reality something a bit stronger than just guessing, maybe like knowing but just partially.
Is what I think correct? Is this the way to differentiate them?
Vermuten means to suppose, surmise, suspect... basically any verb that expresses the idea of thinking something without knowing it for a fact but knowing that one doesn't know it for fact.
Erraten is to guess in sense of guessing correctly.
If you have erraten something, you are already right. If you are still guessing, the word is raten.
For example:
Guess how old I am?
Rate, wie alt ich bin?
If the answer is right, this phrase could follow:
You guessed right!
Du hast es erraten!
Vermuten means to suppose something.
E.g., the doctor can say:
Ich vermute, es handelt sich um einen Virus.
