Grammar: How to say "I think" in Japanese |

Grammar: How to say “I think” in Japanese

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Japanese Grammar – How to say “I think…” – Review Notes

In today’s grammar lesson, we learned how to say express opinions or to say “I think” in Japanese.

In these video review notes we will go over today’s Japanese grammar in greater detail and learn how to say the negative “I don’t think.”

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Today’s Japanese Grammar Lesson:

today's grammar lesson

★　Today we will learn how to express opinions or to say “I think” in Japanese using 〜と思います (~to omoimasu).

Important Points

★　Before we get started, there are two important points to keep in mind.

★　One is that the subject of the sentence (the speaker) is often omitted. In other words, you don’t need to say “I” think, because it is obvious from the context.

★　In fact, in the case that the subject is not “I” you must use 〜と思っています (to omotteimasu) instead of 〜と思います (~to omoimasu) because it is expressing what another person (might be) thinking.

★　The second point is that the clause before 〜と思います (~to omoimasu) must end in plain form.

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All about Plain Form:

review plain form

★　If you missed our previous lessons about the plain form of verbs be sure to check them out!

plain form of desu

★　The plain form of the copula です (desu) is だ (da).

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Example with Noun + Copula:

ashita wa yasumi desu

★　For example, 明日は休みです (ashita wa yasumi desu) means “tomorrow is a holiday.”

turn into I think statement

★　To turn this into an “I think” statement, first change the copula です (desu) to plain form だ (da)

ashita wa yasumi da

★　The plain form of the sentence is 明日は休みだ (ashita wa yasumi da)

add to omoimasu

★　The second step is to add 〜と思います (~to omoimasu) to the end of the sentence.

ashita wa yasumi da to omoimasu

★　The result is an “I think” statement: 明日は休みだと思います (Ashita wa yasumi da to omoimasu) – I think tomorrow is a holiday.

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な-adjectives (na-adjectives):

both nouns and na-adjectives

★　Both nouns and na-adjectives use だ (da) before 〜と思います (to omoimasu)

example with na-adjective

★　Let’s see an example with the na-adjective 親切な (shinsetsu na) which means kind.

sensei wa totemo shinsetsu desu

★　先生はとても親切です (sensei wa totemo shinsetsu desu) means “My teacher is very kind.”

change to I think statement

★　To change to an “I think” statement, first change です (desu) to だ (da)

change desu to da

★　Then, add 〜と思います (~to omoimasu) to the end of the sentence.

sensei wa totemo shinsetsu da to omoimasu

★　The result is an “I think” statement: 先生はとても親切だと思います (Sensei wa totemo shinsetsu da to omoimasu) – I think my teacher is very kind.

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い-adjectives (i-adjectives) and verbs:

i-adjectives and verbs

★　For i-adjectives and verbs, DO NOT put だ (da) before 〜と思います (to omoimasu)

example with i-adjective

★　Let’s see an example with an い-adjective (i-adjective).

neko wa kawaii desu

★　猫は可愛いです (neko wa kawaii desu) means “Cats are cute.”

plain form of i-adjectives

★　To make the plain form of an i-adjective, just take off です (desu)

just add to omoimasu

★　To make it an “I think” statement, just add 〜と思います (~to omoimasu) to the end of the sentence.

neko wa kawaii to omoimasu

★　The result is an “I think” statement: 猫は可愛いと思います (Neko wa kawaii to omoimasu) – I think cats are cute.

3 types of verbs

★　There are 3 types of Japanese verbs: う-verbs, る-verbs, and irregular verbs.

★　If you don’t know about the plain form of Japanese verbs, click here.

examples with verbs

★　Here are a few example sentences using the plain form of verbs with 〜と思います (~to omoimasu).

tomodachi ga tokyo ni kuru to omoimasu

★　This sentence uses the plain form of the irregular verb 来る (kuru) – meaning “to come.” The masu-form is 来ます (kimasu).

kare wa osaka e iku to omoimasu

★　This sentence uses the plain form of the う-verb (u-verb) 行く (iku) – meaning “to go.” The masu-form is 行きます (ikimasu).

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How to make it negative: “I don’t think”

★　There are actually two ways to do this. The first way is to make the verb “think” (思います – omoimasu) negative (思いません – omoimasen – or – 思わないです – omowanai desu)

★　The second way is to leave the verb “think” in its affirmative form and change the form of the clause that comes before 〜と思います (~to omoimasu).

★　However, the vast majority of the time, it is better to use the second option. Let’s see our first example again, this time in negative form.

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Negative Plain Copula Verb – じゃない

★　First, let’s start out with the negative sentence “tomorrow is not a holiday.”

明日は休みじゃないです。

(ashita wa yasumi ja nai desu)

★　じゃないです (ja nai desu) is the negative form of です (desu).

★　To make this into plain form, just take off です (desu). Then, add 〜と思います (to omoimasu)

明日は休みじゃないと思います。

(ashita wa yasumi ja nai to omoimasu)

★　This literally translates to “I think tomorrow is not a holiday” but it means “I don’t think tomorrow is a holiday.”

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Recommended Grammar Lessons:

Plain Present Form of Verbs

Plain Past Form of Verbs

Plain Present Negative Form of Verbs

Changing Plain Form to Masu-Form

Masu-Form and Masen-Form of Verbs

All About Japanese Adjectives

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