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Do I conjugate the adjective, the verb, or both?

wuomin

後輩
3 May 2014
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Hello,

I was trying to say, "My friend thought this movie was interesting."

私の友達はこの映画を面白かったと思っている。

But if I'm correct, this would translate to "My friends thinks this movie was interesting." which is not what I want to express.
I decided to conjugate 思う into past tense, but my textbook states that if the thinker is third person, then 思う must be in progressive form, always. :|

It's been bugging me lately! Brain twister! >.<

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Kai
 
Ahh...I never knew you could conjugate it into 思ってた。

私の友達はこの映画を面白かったと思ってた。

Thank you, lanthas!
 
The past form 思って(い)た implies that the state "思っている" is over, i.e., he/she doesn't think the movie is interesting now. I would say 私の友達はこの映画を面白いと思ったそうだ, 思ったようだ, 思ったらしい, 思ったと思う or like that.

my textbook states that if the thinker is third person, then 思う must be in progressive form, always.
What is the exact description in your textbook? Isn't that an explanation about this issue?
 
Last edited:
Hello Toritoribe,

thank you for the explanation and the link as well! Great insight and I will surely bookmark it. The exact description states, "Note that if the thinker is the third person, 思う must be in progressive form, 思っています (to be thinking).
 
Yeah, that's exactly the same issue as my post.:)
The past form is a bit different. 思った can be used to express third person's impression at that time. You can't know other's thought, so you need to add an expression of guess, hearsay, expectation or like that, as I wrote in my previous post.
 
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