How does one say 'thinking to oneself?' in Japanese?

[ArdenD]

I've looked and looked on the web to no avail... I've found bits and pieces though...

おもう - to think

And on the WWWJDIC I found this sample sentence I couldn't break down into its pieces:

なんでそんな当たり前のことをいうのかと思うでしょう ？でもこれって凄く大事なことだよ。
I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, `Why is this guy making such a big deal of this?' But make no mistake. This is essential.

I broke down the end of the first sentence, where there is:
当たり前のこと
On the subject of the ordinary

をいう
to speak

のかと
(here I am completely confused)

思う
to think

でしょう
and WWWJDIC has this as an expression added to mean (I) think?


But I can't piece together the pieces...


Say, for example, I want to say "Arden is thinking to himself, 'What a nice day'" how would I say this?
アルデンはおもうでしょう、いいでんきですよ。
Is this close?

 

[Scrivener]

なんで: Why
そんな: Such
当たり前の: Obvious
こと: Thing
をいう: Say
のか: ? [question mark]
と: " [quote mark]
思う: Think
でしょう: Probably

You are probably thinking "why is he saying something so obvious?"

The "to yourself" is kind of redundant if you think about it (to yourself). It's not like you can think out loud. It's just a quirk of the English expression that you don't need to translate. If you wanted to emphasize that you aren't sharing your thoughts, you could probably do it, but it isn't found in that Japanese.

でも: But
これ: This
って: [quote mark - i.e. "what I just said"]
凄く: Very
大事な: Important
こと: Thing
だ: Is
よ: ! [exclamation mark]

The "yo" is indicating "you may not realize it but" (new information indicator).

 

[ArdenD]

What is the でしょう part of the following sentence then? And is it properly used?

アルデンさんはおもうでしょう、いいでんきですよ。

Thanks

I know that the 'しょう' sounds like a volitional statement, but it doesn't make sense in context.

 

[Scrivener]

I don't think it is used properly. Deshou is used for speculating about things that may be the case, or that are likely to happen in the future. To me it sounds like:
Arden thinks, probably, "the weather is fine!"

"yo" is used when you are emphasizing something to someone else (usually when you don't think they realize whatever it is you are telling them) so you wouldn't use it much when thinking (to yourself). You'd use it like this:
A: Do you want to play tennis?
B: But I thought it was raining?
A: いいでんきですよ

I'll paste in the whole dictionary definition for deshou (darou) in case it helps:

－だろう

1 〔推量〕(1)〔話者を主語にして〕I ｢think [suppose / guess] (that)…(guessは口語的で,より臆測的);I hope (that)…(よい事を予想して);I ｢am afraid [《文》fear] (that)... (悪い事を予想して)
彼は正直な人だろう I ｢think [suppose] he is an honest man.
彼は今日は来ないだろう I don't think he will come today.
彼はじきによくなるだろう I hope (that) he will get well soon.
お手伝いできないだろうと思います I am afraid I can't help you.
｢彼が君のことでかんかんに怒っているよ｣ ｢そうだろうね｣"He is furious with you.""I'm afraid so."
｢10時までにここに来られるか｣ ｢来られるだろう｣"Can you get here by ten o'clock?""I ｢think [guess] so".
きっと明日は来るだろう I'm sure (that) he will come tomorrow.
いったい彼は誰だろう I wonder who he is.(2)〔probably, perhaps, possiblyなど推量の副詞を用いて〕
あの子は多分12歳かそこらだろう Probably he is twelve or so.
恐らく後で彼が来るだろう Perhaps he'll come later.(3)〔推量の助動詞を用いて〕
彼は3時に帰って来るだろう He will ｢come [be] back at three.
もし晴れていたらピクニックに行っていただろう If it had been good weather, we would have gone on a picnic.
きっとそれを見たのだろう He must have seen it.
忘れたはずはないだろう He can't have forgotten (it).(4)〔疑問詞を用いて〕
どうしてそれを手に入れたのだろう How did he get hold of it?
誰がそんなことをしたのだろう Who could have done such a thing?
2 〔念を押して〕
君だってそう思うだろう You think so, too, don't you?
まさか田中君のことを言っているのではないだろうね You aren't by any chance speaking of Tanaka, are you?

Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Second edition (c) Shogakukan 1993.

 

[ArdenD]

So if I change the sentence to:

ﾆ但ﾆ停?ｹﾆ断ﾆ停?懌?堋ｳ窶堙ｱ窶堙坂?堋ｨ窶堙?窶堙≫?堙??堋｢窶堙懌?堋ｷﾂ、窶堋｢窶堋｢窶堙??堙ｱ窶堋ｫ窶堙??堋ｷﾂ。

It means 'Arden thinks (to himself), 'what nice weather'. Right?

EDIT:

Oops, rather "Arden is thinking (to himself), 'what nice weather'"

 

[Scrivener]

Generally you use a quote indicator with omou. Story grammar (like in novels) is also quite different from normal conversation. I read manga, not books, so you might want a native speaker. (I find Japanese novel-style grammar to be very irritating, unfortunately.) Because you are telling a story you normally use the past tense also.

Maaaaaybe:
"ii tenki desu ne" to, arden-san wa omotta
(remember you can't use -san for yourself though)

Normal grammar (not novel style) is just:
Arden-san wa "ii tenki desu ne" to omotta

If you are not telling a story, but putting a caption on a photograph of Arden looking thoughtful, you could say:
Arden-san wa "ii tenki desu ne" to omotte-iru

(omoimashita and omotte-imasu are the polite forms of course)

 

[Elizabeth]

According to my dictionary, there's also ((心の中で)"ひそかに(。。。)と思う(考える)) for 'think to oneself' or "。。。。心の中で思う" under 'say to oneself' (ぜひとも勝たなければと
彼女は心の中で思った）.

Clearly this usage is more synonymous with 'self-directed' speech or inner dialogue to process experiences than passing thoughts on the weather, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.

 

[ArdenD]

After doing a bit of reading online, I saw that there are a couple different forms of using とおもう to mean different types of thinking to oneself. I've used one of them in an assignment I'm working on.

Expressing One's Thoughts in Japanese

のみすぎるとおもうっている。
I think I drank too much (beer).

I hope that works...

 

[Elizabeth]

After doing a bit of reading online, I saw that there are a couple different forms of using とおもう to mean different types of thinking to oneself. I've used one of them in an assignment I'm working on.

のみすぎるとおもうっている。
I think I drank too much (beer).

I hope that works...

This says 'I think that I drink too much.'

 

[ArdenD]

Then would:

のみすぎましたとおもうっている。

Be I think I drank too much?

 

[Elizabeth]

Then would:

のみすぎましたとおもうっている。

Be I think I drank too much?

のみすぎたとおもいます。 is fine if you mean drank too much one night, or is this over a longer period ? I think I was an alcoholic at some point ?

 

[ArdenD]

No, a scenario (I'm building a small story, dialogue between two characters...)

(someone takes a drink, hiccups...) then says: 'I think I drank too much' and passes out

 

[Glenn]

I think it would be fine in that context. One point, though: if you have an embedded sentence that is not a direct quote, use the plain form. The last verb of the sentence is the one that indicates formality. So it would be ungrammatical to say のみすぎましたとおもうっている. It should be either のみすぎたと おもう（おもっている） for informal, or のみすぎたと おもいます（おもっています） for formal.

 

[Elizabeth]

Maybe 飲みすぎちゃった is better. I totally drank too much, or I really overdid it !

Just as in English, "that was one too many" or "that was too much" is most natural. Most people in that state aren't going to say "I think I drank too much" right before passing out -- unless you're going for the comical effect .

 

[Scrivener]

How about:
妖怪酔っ払いジジ．．． イエィー．．． （ベロー）

 

[bonita]

'I think I drank too much' and passeｄ out.

"飲みすぎちゃったよぅ。"そして彼は気を失った。

so says my bf.

 

[blade_bltz]

心の中で思う should do the trick. My teacher suggested I use that the other day..but be careful to note the nuance Elizabeth described above.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Uh... I'm reading over the thread to see if there's any reason why nobody said 自分で考える.

 

[Elizabeth]

Uh... I'm reading over the thread to see if there's any reason why nobody said 自分で考える.

I dunno. Maybe because it looks on the surface more like "Thinking on one's own" or "Thinking by/for yourself" ?

 

[GaijinPunch]

Arden is thinking to himself, 'What a nice day'

アルデンさんは今日はいい一日だなと自分で考えています。 Sounds pretty good to me. I think everyone's throwing about 3 unnecessary layers of icing on this thing. But, I guess democracy is a good thing in forums.

 

[Pox]

my translation is this:
Arden is thinking to himself, 'What a nice day'

"アルデンさんは「今日はなんて良い日なんだろう」と思っています。"

 

[okaeri_man]

"アルデンさんは「今日はなんて良い日なんだろう」と思っています。"

case closed

 

[GaijinPunch]

Not bad for a two year old.