思う

Japanese

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

Alternative spellings
想う (somewhat literary) 念う (literary) 惟う (literary) 憶う (literary) 懐う (literary) 以う (rare)

Etymology

⟨omo₂pu⟩ → */əməpu/ → /omoɸu/ → /omou/

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *əməp-. First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE. 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 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”). However, this runs into problems, since the ancestor of this form is reconstructed as *onpo- (“heavy”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おもう [òmóꜜù] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [o̞mo̞ɯ̟]

• Audio:

  (file)

• 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
2. 思う: (と〜) to think that

   私(わたし)は田(た)中(なか)先(せん)生(せい)のクラスはとても面(おも)白(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 Prof. Tanaka's classes were very interesting.

3. to long for, to yearn for

   故(ふる)郷(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).

[sentence] + (と + 私は + 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.

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

Classical conjugation of "思ふ" (ハ行四段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	思は	おもは	omofa
Continuative (連用形)	思ひ	おもひ	omofi
Terminal (終止形)	思ふ	おもふ	omofu
Attributive (連体形)	思ふ	おもふ	omofu
Realis (已然形)	思へ	おもへ	omofe
Imperative (命令形)	思へ	おもへ	omofe
Key constructions
Negative	思はず	おもはず	omofazu
Contrasting conjunction	思へど	おもへど	omofedo
Causal conjunction	思へば	おもへば	omofeba
Conditional conjunction	思はば	おもはば	omofaba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge)	思ひき	おもひき	omofiki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge)	思ひけり	おもひけり	omofikeri
Perfect tense (conscious action)	思ひつ	おもひつ	omofitu
Perfect tense (natural event)	思ひぬ	おもひぬ	omofinu
Perfect-continuative tense	思へり 思ひたり	おもへり おもひたり	omoferi omofitari
Volitional	思はむ	おもはむ	omofamu

Synonyms

• 考(かんが)える (kangaeru)

Derived terms

• 慮(おもんぱか)る (omonpakaru, “(formal) to consider carefully”)