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Lesson 1 – Elementary – The differences between jué dé觉得 – rèn wéi认为 – yǐ wéi以为

The differences between jué dé觉得 —rèn wéi认为—yǐ wéi以为

When majority of western students study Chinese, they often hear Chinese people say like this:
我觉得他不会来了(wǒ jué dé tā bú huì lái le)I do not think (jue de觉得)he will come.
我认为他不会来了(wǒ rèn wéi tā bú huì lái le)I do not think (ren wei认为) he will come.
我以为他不会来了(wǒ yǐ wéi tā bú huì lái le)I do no think (ren wei以为) he will come.

It is a hot potato for them. Is there any difference among them? Why it is so hard and complicate to study Chinese in China?

Don’t worry. Actually it is not so hard to distinguish. And teachers from Keats School will help you to solve this problem. 3 of them have a basic meaning: think, but the degree, result is different.

jué dé觉得: 1. not sure, to guess 2. to emphasize personal feeling More like ‘I think (feel)’
我觉得她可能不会喜欢这个礼物。(wǒ jué dé tā kě nénɡ bú huì xǐ huɑn zhè ɡe lǐ wù) I don’t think she will like this gift.
我觉得晚上会下雨。(wǒ jué dé wǎn shɑnɡ huì xià yǔ) I think it will rain in the evening.

rèn wéi认为: the view of somebody or something and to make a judgment. Strong than jue de觉得, more like ’I think or deem…’
有一些人总是认为别人帮助他是应该的事情。(yǒu yì xiē rén zǒnɡ shì rèn wéi bié rén bānɡ zhù tā shì yīnɡ ɡāi de shì qínɡ)Some people always think that he is supposed to get help.
科学家认为晚餐吃得太多对身体不好。(kē xué jiā rèn wéi wǎn cān chī dé tài duō duì shēn tǐ bù hǎo)Scientists think that it is bad for our health to eat too much in the evening.

yi wei以为: to make a judgment before realizing the truth but the result is opposite to it. I though…// emphasize on the result, normally it is opposite.
E.g. 他昨天没有来,我以为他生病了,其实他回国了。(tā zuó tiān méi yǒu lái , wǒ yǐ wéi tā shēnɡ bìnɡ le , qí shí tā huí ɡuó le)He did not come yesterday. I though he was ill. He has returned home from abroad in fact.
E.g. 很多小孩以为大人赚钱很容易,所以总是让父母买很多东西。(hěn duō xiǎo hái yǐ wéi dà rén zhuàn qián hěn rónɡ yì , suó yǐ zǒnɡ shì rànɡ fù mǔ mǎi hěn duō dōnɡ xi)Majority children always make their parents to buy lots of things, because they think it is easy to make money for their parents.

Lots of words need to discriminate when you study Chinese, especially when your Chinese becomes better and better. And you may have more problems and they become more complicated. Don’t worry. You may solve these problems gradually in Keats School. And studying Chinese is not so complicated any more.

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