思う

Japanese

Kanji in this term
思
おも Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū poetry compilation, completed circa 759. There are two main theories for its ultimate derivation:

• May be cognate with 面 (omo, “face”), from the sense of how one's emotions appear on one's face.
• May be cognate with 重 (omo, “weight”), from the sense of weighing different options. Compare similar derivations of English ponder (as in “to weigh; to think”) and ponderous (as in “heavy, weighty”).

Pronunciation

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "思う"

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	思う	おもう	[òmóꜜù]
Imperative (命令形)	思え	おもえ	[òmóꜜè]
Key constructions
Passive	思われる	おもわれる	[òmówáréꜜrù]
Causative	思わせる	おもわせる	[òmówáséꜜrù]
Potential	思える	おもえる	[òmóéꜜrù]
Volitional	思おう	おもおー	[òmóóꜜò]
Negative	思わない	おもわない	[òmówáꜜnàì]
Negative perfective	思わなかった	おもわなかった	[òmówáꜜnàkàttà]
Formal	思います	おもいます	[òmóímáꜜsù]
Perfective	思った	おもった	[òmóꜜttà]
Conjunctive	思って	おもって	[òmóꜜttè]
Hypothetical conditional	思えば	おもえば	[òmóꜜèbà]

Verb

思(おも)う • (omou) ^{←おもふ (omofu)?}intransitive godan (stem 思(おも)い (omoi), past 思(おも)った (omotta))

1. to think, to deem

   私(わたし)は田(た)中(なか)先生(せんせい)のクラスはとても面白(おもしろ)かったと思(おも)います。

   Watashi wa Tanaka-sensei no kurasu wa totemo omoshirokatta to omoimasu.

   I think that Tanaka-sensei's classes were very interesting.

   故郷(ふるさと)を思(おも)う

   furusato o omou

   to think of one's hometown

Usage notes

A pattern with which this verb is often used is:

(私は + ) [sentence] + (と + 思う/思っている).

• When ending in 思う, the pattern expresses opinions which the speaker holds at the time of speaking.
• When ending in 思っている, the pattern expresses opinions which the speaker has had since sometime in the past.

While both 思う (omou) and synonym 考える (kangaeru) can be used to mean to think, omou may include more emotional and subjective overtones, whereas kangaeru implies more analytic and objective thought.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "思う" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	思わ	おもわ	omowa
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	思い	おもい	omoi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	思う	おもう	omou
Rentaikei ("attributive")	思う	おもう	omou
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	思え	おもえ	omoe
Meireikei ("imperative")	思え	おもえ	omoe
Key constructions
Passive	思われる	おもわれる	omowareru
Causative	思わせる 思わす	おもわせる おもわす	omowaseru omowasu
Potential	思える	おもえる	omoeru
Volitional	思おう	おもおう	omoō
Negative	思わない	おもわない	omowanai
Negative continuative	思わず	おもわず	omowazu
Formal	思います	おもいます	omoimasu
Perfective	思った	おもった	omotta
Conjunctive	思って	おもって	omotte
Hypothetical conditional	思えば	おもえば	omoeba

Synonyms

• 考(かんが)える (kangaeru)