N4 grammar

〜と思う

I think that

Formation

と思う puts your opinion behind a plain-form clause, and Japanese uses it far more than English uses I think. It softens a statement into something personal rather than a claim about the world. With a volitional in front it becomes an intention instead.

Examples

〜と思う is marked in each sentence. Tap any word for its dictionary entry.

  1. I regard crab as a great delicacy.

  2. Do you take me for a fool?

  3. I have a fancy to live the hard way.

  4. Who do you think is the writer of this novel?

  5. I think jogging is good exercise.

The explanation is ours, written for this site. Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), each machine-checked to actually contain the pattern. Furigana is generated automatically, so a rare reading may be imperfect.