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Can someone explain to me the difference between the following forms?

  • 思った
  • 思ってた
  • 思っていた
hippietrail
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Vall3y
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1 Answers1

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In English, you might be able to think of those forms like this:

思った ー (I) thought

思ってた and 思っていた ー (I) was thinking, (I) had thought, or (I) had been thinking.

Do note that 思ってた and 思っていた are the same... but 思っていた is more of a form you would want to use in formal writing. In conversational writing, however, you are often free to use either form (depending on the audience to whom the writing is being addressed.)

summea
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  • This answer is somewhat misleading, or oversimplified at least. See my explanation in this answer to a related question: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/13115/present-vs-past-tense-with-certain-verbs/13603#13603 – Darius Jahandarie Apr 04 '14 at 22:16
  • @DariusJahandarie The goal of this particular answer was to provide an answer for this particular question. This answer may be oversimplified, but you are always free to add your own answer. As far as "misleading", however, I would like to know what you mean... – summea Apr 04 '14 at 22:28
  • @DariusJahandarie And if it helps, do note: this answer was written more than 6 months before the answer you posted (in the link above). – summea Apr 04 '14 at 22:40
  • Misleading only in the sense that it suggests that 「思う」 ⇔ "to think", when the situation is actually more complicated than that. I also feel silly writing essentially the exact same thing in two different answers. – Darius Jahandarie Apr 04 '14 at 23:14
  • @DariusJahandarie In that case, it's interesting to me how the examples given in your linked answer also refer to 思う as meaning "think/thought" throughout your examples... (from the link: 〜思う 1. thought/think 2. think 3. think/thought 4. thought x. thought). If we are to consider all of the different meanings for 思う in English (or any other word, for that matter,) the idea of a simple answer may begin to fade away... – summea Apr 04 '14 at 23:22
  • That's right. 「思う」 ⇔ "to think" is a great parallel. But explanations should almost never stop with a parallel because they can cause misunderstandings later down the line unless it's perfect, and in this case I don't think it is (as it entirely misses the point about 思う being a state-change verb, and that being so causes some restrictions on its usage with other people whose state you can't directly observe). "Simple as possible but no simpler" is what I'm trying to say, maybe? Anyways, maybe my comment would have been better left on the question than on your answer. – Darius Jahandarie Apr 04 '14 at 23:45
  • @DariusJahandarie I see what you mean about adding additional background on words like 思う. In the case of this original question, though, it appeared to me that the poster was asking more about differences between the verb endings rather than the verb 思う in particular (as read from the question title and the question itself ^^). Thanks for your thoughts! – summea Apr 05 '14 at 00:00