Good day to you, fellow netizens!

Today we’re going to talk about feelings.

Hmm, no, I changed my mind. Maybe we’re going to talk about reason and thought instead! Damn, is there any way to talk about both?

Well yes, yes there is! The Japanese just went for it and put both meanings into one single word:

Behold! The power and glory of 思う ( おもう ).

I thought I could put together a lesson about it because it’s probably one of the top ten words you’ll need to know in order to express yourself in Japanese, as it has so many uses.

Look it up in the dictionary and you’ll get a list of meanings:

thought
imagination; mind; 
desire;  wish;  hope;  expectation
love;  affection
feelings;  emotion;  sentiment;  experience

On top of that, you get a lot of compound words like:

思い出 ( おもいで ) – memories
思い込み ( おもいこみ) – wrong assumption
思いやり ( おもいやり ) – consideration

And so on.

But we’ll take it one step at a time. This lesson will only cover the basics.
Now let’s get going:

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1. Asking for/expressing preference: (where it’s a verb and translates as 'to think')

A: どれがいいと思う？
B: これがいいと思う。

A: どれ　が　いい　と　おもう？
B: これ　が　いい　と　おもう。

A: Which (do you) think is better?
B: (I) think this is better.

Literally:
A: Which + が + good + と + think?
B: This + が + good + と + think.It’s a pretty simple construct, but very helpful in daily conversation.Let’s look at a more specific example:

A: トイレットペーパのセット方向はどっちがいいと思う？表向き？それとも裏向き？
B: 俺は裏向きがいいと思う。
A: うそー！それは無いでしょう！

A: トイレットペーパ　の　セット　ほうこう　は　どっち　が　いい　と　おもう？　おもてむき？　それとも　うらむき？
B: おれ　は　うらむき　が　いい　と　おもう。
A: うそー！　それ　は　ない　でしょう！

A: How do you prefer your toilet paper? Hanging over the roll or under it?
B: I prefer it hanging under the roll.
A: No! You're not serious, right?

*Psst, can you guess which kind of でしょう this is? If not, take a look back at Niko's lessons from last week, it’s a stuffy subject so reviewing it will help a bunch.

Literally, the sentences mean:
A: Toilet paper + の + orientation + は + which + is + good + と + think? Outwards + facing? Or + inwards + facing?
B: I + は + inwards + facing + is + good + と + think.
C: Lie! + That + は + is not + でしょう!

Yes, my dear students, the toilet paper orientation war is just as intense in Japan. There’s even a Wikipedia page dedicated to it.

I must say, though, that a debate on this subject would probably look a lot more like:

Next:

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2. Talking about your / people’s feelings: (where it’s a noun and it translates as 'feelings'):

彼氏が裏向き派と知った彼女の思いは想像もつかない。
かれし　が　うらむきは　と　しった　かのじょ　の 　おもい　は　そうぞう　も　つかない。
I cannot even begin to imagine what she felt when she found out that her boyfriend was an 'under the roll' type.

Literally: Boyfriend + が + ‘under the roll’ type + と + found out + her + feelings + は + imagine + cannot (grasp).

Here are some easier sentences for practice:

嫌な思いをした。
いやな　おもい　を　した。
Literally, this translates as: I made a bad feeling,
It actually means: 'I had a bad/unpleasant experience'

Same for the next sentence:

いい思いをした。
いい　おもい　を　した。
Literally: I made a good feeling
Actually: I had a good/pleasant experience.

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3. Now let’s go one step further, to the compound words:

An interesting thing to notice here is that the following can easily shift between being either verbs or nouns.

First the verb form:

思い出す
おもいだす
To remember; to recall
Literally: thoughts + take out
Note: You might notice that a lot of Japanese people, when speaking English, use the word "recall" a bit more often than native speakers. This is because, to a lot of Japanese students of English, 覚える（おぼえる）is "to remember; to memorize (i.e. to store information in your brain)," whereas 思い出す（おもいだす） is "to recall (i.e. to pull stored information out of your brain and use it... to take out one's thoughts)."

五時間前にオーブンに入れたピザのこと今思い出した！
ごじかん　まえ　に　オーブン　に　いれた　ピザ　の　こと　いま　おもいだした！

Which means…

I just remembered about the pizza I put in the oven 5 hours ago!

…And then we have the noun of the pair:

思い出
おもいで
Memories, recollections

You use it in a sentence when you want to specifically mention certain/particular memories, like:

「あの時の思い出」
「あの　とき　の　おもいで」
'The memories from that time'

You don’t use this when you want to talk about memory, like 'I lost my memory'.

But let’s see a specific example:

鮫の小腹を撫でた思い出はとても大切です。
さめ　の　こばら　を　なでた　おもいで　は　とても　たいせつ　です。
(My) memories of petting a shark's belly are very precious.

Oh, it was just the sweetest moment, and it was so soft but kinda rugged at the same time.

I just, I… it was… (●´ω｀●)　pure joy!

*No sharks were harmed during the taking of this photo. They were just chilling in a smaller tank for a while until their larger one was cleaned or something.

Anyway, earth to Ada, back to the lesson:

Veeeerb:
思い込む
おもいこむ
To be convinced of something, to be caught up in your thoughts.

子供の時は自分が超能力を持っていると思い込んでいた。
こども　の　とき　は　じぶん　が　ちょうのうりょく　を　もっている　と　おもいこんでいた。
When I was a kid I was convinced that I had superpowers.

On a side note, this is actually a thing in Japan. They call it the year-2-of-middle-school syndrome (中二病、ちゅうにびょう) and it’s widely accepted as a stage in child development when their imagination and desire to experience extraordinary situations gets the better of them and some become convinced (to some extent) that they have some form of superpower.

Noooun:
思い込み
おもいこみ
wrong impression;  assumption;  prejudice

Now notice here that it’s sorta different in meaning than the verb above. I mean it’s close… but no cigar.
It has a more negative ring to it.

A:　早起きするといい事が絶対あるから早く起きなさい！
B:　それはただあんたの思い込みじゃないの？

A: はやおき　する　と　いい　こと　が　ぜったい　ある　から　はやく　おきなさい！
B: それ　は　ただ　あんた　の　おもいこみ　じゃ　ない　の？

A: If you wake up early good things will definitely happen so hurry and get up!
B: Isn’t that just an assumption of yours?

Note: Be careful not to use あんた for "you" unless you know someone reallywell. It's pretty rude.

So, there you have it! Hope this lesson helped you get a general idea of 思う, the many-faced word-god.

See you next time!

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This lesson was written by Adriana, a guest contributor.