In Swedish, the word “think” has three significantly different meanings (at least three, there might be more meanings that I can’t think of right now). If you mean that your mind is occupied with the act of thinking about something, as in “ponder”, you say “jag tänker”, whereas if you use the word think to express your opinion about something you say “jag tycker”. The third meaning is “I believe”, which is “jag tror” in Swedish.
To make things complicated, even if “att tänka”, “att tycka”, and “att tro” may all be translated with “to think” in certain contexts, they also quite often mean something else than “to think”. Below are some sample sentences using the words “tänka”, “tycka” and “tro” in various ways.
Vad tycker du?
What do you think (as in “What’s your opinion?”)
Tror du på spöken?
Do you believe in ghosts?
Vad tänker du på?
What are you thinking about?
Jag tror dig.
I believe you.
Continue reading