Japanese edit

Alternative spellings
思う
想う (somewhat literary)
念う (literary)
惟う (literary)
憶う (literary)
懐う (literary)

Etymology edit

⟨omo2pu⟩ → */əməpu//omoɸu//omou/

From Old Japanese.[1][2] First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.[3] Also appears in the Man'yōshū poetry compilation, completed c. 759 CE. There are two main theories for its ultimate derivation:

  • May be cognate with (omo, face), from the sense of how one's emotions appear on one's face.[1]
  • May be cognate with (omo, weight), from the sense of weighing different options.[1] Compare similar derivations of English ponder (as in “to weigh; to think”) and ponderous (as in “heavy, weighty”).

Pronunciation edit

  • 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 [òmóꜜù]
Imperative (命令形) 思え [òmóꜜè]
Key constructions
Passive 思われる もわれ [òmówáréꜜrù]
Causative 思わせる もわせ [òmówáséꜜrù]
Potential 思える もえ [òmóéꜜrù]
Volitional 思おう もお [òmóóꜜò]
Negative 思わない もわない [òmówáꜜnàì]
Negative perfective 思わなかった もわなかった [òmówáꜜnàkàttà]
Formal 思います もいま [òmóímáꜜsù]
Perfective 思った った [òmóꜜttà]
Conjunctive 思って って [òmóꜜttè]
Hypothetical conditional 思えば えば [òmóꜜèbà]

Verb edit

おもう (omouおもふ (omofu)?intransitive godan (stem おもい (omoi), past おもった (omotta))

  1. to think, to deem
  2. 思う: (と〜) to think that
    (わたし)()(なか)(せん)(せい)クラスとても(おも)(しろ)かった(おも)います
    Watashi wa Tanaka-sensei no kurasu wa totemo omoshirokatta to omoimasu.
    I think that Prof. Tanaka's classes were very interesting.
  3. to long for, to yearn for
    (ふる)(さと)(おも)
    furusato o omou
    to think of one's hometown

Usage notes edit

A pattern with which this verb is often used is:

( + ) [sentence] + ( + 思う/思っている).
[sentence] + ( + + 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
  • 思っている is also used to express opinions by someone other than the speaker.

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.[1]

Conjugation edit

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

References edit

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006) 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ^ 思・想・憶・懐”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, Nihon Kokugo Daijiten)[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  4. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998) NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  5. ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997) 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN