Neues Konzept
Framing an opinion
In French an opinion rarely arrives bare. It comes with an opener, and the opener tells your listener how you hold the view:
| Opener | English |
|---|---|
| À mon avis,… | In my opinion,… |
| Selon moi,… / D'après moi,… | In my view,… |
| Pour moi,… | For me,… / To me,… |
| Je pense que… / Je crois que… | I think… / I believe… |
| Je trouve que… | I find… / I think… |
| Il me semble que… | It seems to me… |
| J'ai l'impression que… | I get the feeling… |
| Je suis sûr(e) que… | I'm sure… |
| Franchement,… | Honestly,… / Frankly,… |
- Je trouve que judges something you've seen, tasted or tried: Je trouve que ce film est trop long.
- Je crois que can sound a shade less certain than je pense que.
- After all of these, the verb stays in the ordinary indicative — you're presenting your view as true: Je pense qu'il a raison. — I think he's right. (avoir raison — to be right)
- The word for opinion here is avis: à mon avis, never dans mon opinion, which is English in disguise.