Writing About Thinking

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mohandas Gandhi

Before we move on to the next chapter, I want you to do a little bit of your own writing in regards to と思います. I think you’ve learned a lot about it, and i think you’re pretty prepared to spot it and recognize it out in the wild, but using it is altogether different. Here’s your task for this page:

Over at Lang-8, I want you to write an entry on your “thoughts.” Because only doing this would be a bit too broad, I think, I’ve also provided some guidelines (below) for you to follow as well as some tips to help you get started.

You’re going to be writing a series of sentences that don’t really have anything to do with each other. The goal is to use と思います in as many different situations as possible (and have some native Japanese speakers on Lang-8 correct them for you). Although you are encouraged to go beyond the following list, here is the bare minimum.

  1. If you want, you can start your Lang-8 post with an explanation: 今、「と思います」を練習しています。お願いします！ (Right now I’m practicing “と思います.” Please help me).
  2. Write two simple noun, i-adjective, na-adjective, and verb sentences.
  3. Write two sentences that include 好き or きらい in them. i.e. “I think I like…” or “I think I hate…” Remember, these are な adjectives!
  4. Write a sentence about another person, using name+さん.
  5. Write about what you think is easy to do (やすい). Write about what you think is hard to do (にくい).
  6. Write about what you did too much of (すぎた)
  7. Write about what you want (ほしい、〜たい)
  8. Try and mix up tenses (so it’s not all present positive, because that would be booooring).

After you’ve posted everything up, sit back, relax, and wait for the corrections to roll in. Who knows, maybe you’re just a genius and there are no corrections.

By the end of this chapter, you should have a pretty solid understanding of と思います and many of the ways in which it is used. Hopefully, after some of the corrections come back, you have a pretty good understanding on how to use it yourself, too.

Before you move on to the next lesson though, download and import the next Ultimate Vocab deck into your TextFugu Vocab deck and study a bit. Keep up with your reviews!

Ultimate Vocab 12

After your brain feels a little less full, head on over to the next lesson. It’s waiting for you… beckoning, possibly.

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