Ich finde, ich glaube

By chapter 10 you have enough German to disagree with somebody, which is when a language starts being useful. This session collects the words for holding an opinion, agreeing, and telling someone they are wrong.

Four ways to think

English says I think for almost everything. German splits it.

finden is for opinions and judgements. Ich finde den Film gut is I think the film is good, meaning it is my taste and I will stand by it. Literally I find the film good, and that is how it feels.

glauben is for beliefs about facts you are not sure of. Ich glaube, er kommt morgen is I think he is coming tomorrow, but I would not bet on it. It also means to believe in, as in God.

denken is thinking as an activity: Ich denke an dich, I am thinking of you. It can do the opinion job too, but finden and glauben are usually more natural.

meinen means to think in the sense of to mean, to have a view: Was meinst du? is what do you think?, and also what do you mean? Meinung is opinion, the noun. Meiner Meinung nach, in my opinion, is how a German opens a considered argument.

Agreeing

stimmen means to be correct, and Das stimmt is that is true, the standard way to agree. Du hast recht is you are right. Note that it is something you have, not something you are, like Angst and Hunger.

genau means exactly, and it is what Germans say constantly while listening to you, the way English speakers say right or yeah. klar is clear, and Klar! is of course. einverstanden is agreed, as in a deal.

Disagreeing

falsch is wrong, richtig is right, wahr is true and Wahrheit is the truth. Das ist nicht wahr is that is not true. Quatsch is nonsense, and it is informal and rather satisfying to say.

The hedges

vielleicht is maybe, wahrscheinlich is probably, sicher is certainly or sure. eigentlich means actually, but it is really a softener: Eigentlich habe ich keine Zeit is I do not really have time, said by someone who might be persuaded. ehrlich is honest, and ehrlich gesagt is to be honest, which usually comes just before the opinion you were not going to like.