56908
'と思います' is usually used when saying what you think/your assumptions, that much
I know, but is it possible to alter it so that you can say what others are
thinking? For an example, how would you say, 'Mary thinks the stars are
beautiful'?
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2018-02-26T11:10:25.937
56897
2018-02-26T16:23:48.980
2018-02-26T11:17:57.987
27894
27894
question
translation word-choice phrases
How would you use the 'と思います' form to say what others are thinking?
Japanese is a language in which expressing **_others'_** feelings, thoughts,
desires, etc. is done considerably more discreetly than expressing one's own.

It is 100% natural to say:

> 「私{わたし}は、星{ほし}はきれいだと思{おも}います。」

but it is **_not_** natural at all for a native speaker to say:

> 「田中{たなか}さんは、星はきれいだと **思います** 。」

even if Tanaka has directly told the speaker that he (Tanaka) thinks that the
stars are beautiful.

「思います」 is reserved for the speaker/writer; You cannot use it when the subject
of the verb is another person. The same principle is applicable to other words
like 「ほしい」、「したい」、「怖{こわ}い」, etc.

One could say instead:

> 「田中さんは、星はきれいだと **思っています** 。」

If Tanaka has directly told you so. And you might say:

> 「田中さんは、星はきれいだと **思っているようです** 。」

if the information has been obtained via a third person.

All this might sound strange to you, but you will need to get used to the
idea. As a Japanese-speaker, I felt very strange, too, when encountering a
sentence like " **My father thinks I am crazy**." in my English textbook a few
years ago in junior high school and so did just about all of my classmates
because that sentence made very little sense to us.

You might want to read:

[When to use 欲しがる instead of
欲しい](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2524/when-to-
use-%e6%ac%b2%e3%81%97%e3%81%8c%e3%82%8b-instead-
of-%e6%ac%b2%e3%81%97%e3%81%84)

[Translation of
泳ぎたがっている](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/13741/translation-
of-%e6%b3%b3%e3%81%8e%e3%81%9f%e3%81%8c%e3%81%a3%e3%81%a6%e3%81%84%e3%82%8b)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T16:23:48.980
56908
2018-02-26T16:23:48.980
56897
answer