difference between: confide / admit / confess

[ibex]

Hi!

Up to now I've learnt three English words for "gestehen, zugeben": "to confide" / "to admit" and "to confess (that...)" and I wonder what the difference between them is. I have a feeling towards every one of them, but I'm not quite sure.

to confide ... I know this in context of "to confide in sb" = to trust sb. So it doesn't really mean to tell that you did something bad, but rather entrusting yourself to somebody, isn't it?

to admit ... is what I understand by telling you did something with bad consequences. Is that correct? Is it only used when you were already accused of something and admit it afterwards, so kind of "Yes, you're right, I'm sorry." or not?

and to confess ... I have only read this word in contexts dealing with law, so kind of "Soon after the police have arrested him, he confessed the murder." Is that true? Is it only / mainly used in such situations?

Please explain it to me! I'm willing to learn

Have a nice day
ibex

[Keswick (Contributor)]

to confide ... I know this in context of "to confide in sb" = to trust sb. So it doesn't really mean to tell that you did something bad, but rather entrusting yourself to somebody, isn't it?

to confide in .. yes, you are correct with that. If a sinner wants to confess their sins, they go to a priest, knowing that the priest is someone who won't tell their secrets to anyone. They could even confide a murder to a priest and the priest wasn't allowed to tell anyone.

to admit ... is what I understand by telling you did something with bad consequences. Is that correct? Is it only used when you were already accused of something and admit it afterwards, so kind of "Yes, you're right, I'm sorry." or not?

Correct! You would use "admit" if you want to admit to a mistake you have made, or to something you have done that you shouldn't have done, like you said, when you're being accused of something, imagine you were asked to create a spreadsheet on the latest numbers and you did not pay the attention you should have paid.. your boss comes into the office and shouts:"These monthly numbers are all wrong, who caused this mess?" You would step forward and say "It was me, I admit I should have paid more attention to what I was doing".

and to confess ... I have only read this word in contexts dealing with law, so kind of "Soon after the police have arrested him, he confessed the murder." Is that true? Is it only / mainly used in such situations?

Correct! You confess a crime, but you can also confess a sin (see above) or in older times poets would confess their love for someone. But that's rather outdated. Also, you sometimes hear "I have to confess that..." which is used in the German sense of "Ich muss zugeben, so schlecht wie ich annahm war das Lied am Ende gar nicht".

I hope this makes sense!

[ibex]

To me, it makes very good sense. <-- Is this correct? "To make good sense"? Or is it "great" or "much" sense??
Anyway - thank you!

[Keswick (Contributor)]

To me, it makes very good sense. <-- Is this correct? "To make good sense"? Or is it "great" or "much" sense??
Anyway - thank you!

You'd either say it makes sense, or it makes perfect sense. Glad I could be if help .