I didn't really know how to word the title, so I'll try to explain better now.

So, I know that the standard, かっこいいと思う would be I think it's cool, but I was
playing a game, and it said, クラーラはかっこいいと思います, and the translation was "I think
it's cool" (spoken by Clara). But couldn't this also translate to "I think
Clara is cool.

For example, if I said, 「私はかっこいいと思う」. Could it translate to both, "I think
it's cool" and "I think I am cool"? the standard thing that goes into my mind
would be "I think I am cool," but could it also mean, "I think it is cool,"?
Like in the sentence mentioned earlier?

If it could mean both, then I guess its just depends content to understand it?
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2023-05-09T00:00:53.573
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question
grammar
How would you say "[someone] thinks it is cool" vs "I think [someone] is cool?
You're correct, クラーラはかっこいいと思います means both "I, Clara, think it's cool" and "I
think Clara is cool" depending mainly on who said this. For the former to
work, the character must be someone who uses her own name as the first-person
"pronoun", which is rare in English but [relatively common in
Japanese](https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E5%90%8D%E5%89%8D%E3%81%A3%E5%A8%98). Note
that クラーラはかっこいいと思います **cannot** mean "Someone thinks Clara is cool" because
思います does not work with a third person's thoughts: [思っている/言っている with a third
person subject?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6538/5010)

The same for 私はかっこいいと思う.
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answer