# All Slavic languages: thinking of vs. on my mind



## mateo19

Hello everyone,

1) I'd like to compare the Slavic languages and see how to say "to think of someone", i.e. "I'm thinking of you" or "I think of you often".

2) Then I'd like to know if besides the standard expression, there is also an idiomatic expression for it.

For example, in English we can say, "I'm thinking of you" (standard) and we also have the expression "You're _on my mind_" or "I've got you _on my mind_" (idiomatic).  Do any of the Slavic languages make such a distinction?

I know that the Slovak is, "Myslím na teba", so the formula is "myslieť na niekoho".  I'd guess the Ukrainian is "Я думаю про тебе", but I'm not sure. (I checked on Google, 91,500 Ukrainian pages for Я думаю про тебе).  Prepositions are so difficult and the prepositions that work correctly in Slovak do not always correspond in Ukrainian!

Thank you to everyone for their collaborations.


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## itreius

In BCS (Croatian), the following can be used:

Mislim na tebe. (I'm thinking of/about you.)
U mislima si mi. (You're in my thoughts/You're on my mind.)

Ergo, the distinction is made between the two expressions, just like in English, but the latter is used less often. 
I can't come up with any other expressions right now (if they exist at all).


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## Azori

Slovak:

Myslím na teba.
Myslievam na teba.

"I think of you often":
Myslím na teba často./Často na teba myslím.
Myslievam na teba často./Často na teba myslievam.

You're on my mind - Si v mojej mysli. Perhaps. I mean, it's possible to say it, it's understandable, but normally it isn't used. There is also "mať na mysli (niekoho, niečo)", but this one means to have *in* mind, to mean.

"Chodiť/behať (niekomu) po rozume" -to have on mind, to think of, kind of informal, for example: Chodí mu čokoláda po rozume. - He has chocolate on his mind. It can't be used when directly addressing a person, so you can't say "Chodíš mi po rozume" (I'm thinking of you).


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## Duya

In BCS there's another, _imam te na umu_ (literally: I've got you on my mind), though there's nothing sentimental in it. Generally, "_imam X na umu_" means "X is on my to-do list", "I didn't forget about X".


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## Kanes

Bulgarian: 

мисля за теб - I'm thinking of you
често мисля за теб - I'm thinking of you often
в мислите ми си - you are in my thoughts
в умът си ми - you are in my mind
имам те в акъла си - I have you in my mind


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## TriglavNationalPark

Slovenian:

*Mislim nate.* = I'm thinking of you.

*Imeti [X] v mislih* = to have [X, usually an idea, but sometimes a person] on one's mind

*V mislih sem s teboj.* = poetic; literally "I'm with you in my thoughts."


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## winpoj

Lior, it seems to me you are drawing an incorrect distinction there: Both "myslím" and "myslievam" are imperfective, aren't they?

The difference is that "myslievam" is iterative, if my limited knowledge of grammar serves me well.


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## Azori

winpoj said:


> Lior, it seems to me you are drawing an incorrect distinction there: Both "myslím" and "myslievam" are imperfective, aren't they?


What is the perfective of "myslieť" then?


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## mateo19

That's an interesting question, Winpoj and Lior Neith.
I definitely agree that myslieť is imperfective and not perfective.  The dictionary even says so:

*myslieť* -í -ia _nedok._

And myslievať is also imperfective by nature, as it is "habitual":

_opak._ *myslievať*, -a, -ajú;


My Slovak teacher taught us that some verbs simply don't have perfective counterparts (nothing as clean as kupovať vs. kupiť).  Maybe this is one of them.  Although, if you prefixed myslieť, I'm sure you'd get a perfective version, something that means "to think through".  I honestly don't know though. :-s  How about this one?  It's perfective:
_
_
_dok. k 1, 2, 4_ *pomyslieť (si)
*
I wanted to add a key for the grammatical terms as they can be a bit confusing to foreigners, like me!  Have I spelled them all correctly?:
dok. = dokonavý = perfective
nedok. = nedokonavý= imperfective
opak. = opakovací = frequentative

PS. My teacher also gave us a great test to see if a verb is perfective or imperfective (sometimes we're not sure!).  If you can use it in the future with *byť*, then it is imperfective (this works roughly 99% of the time).  Since we can say "Budem na teba myslieť", we autmatically know that myslieť is an imperfective verb.


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## texpert

Cz: Myslím na tebe / Jsem v myšlenkách s tebou


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## TKD

SK:
Beware of perfectiveness, it can be confusing sometime 

Anyway, *myslieť* is considered an imperfective and has no perfective version.

*Pomyslieť si* is mostly used in the past or future.
_Pomyslel som si, že je to dobrý nápad / I thought it was a good idea._ - usually means "suddenly", "at that time" and takes only seconds whereas "myslieť" can take even longer period. _Myslel som na teba celý deň / I thought of you all day._

*Myslievať* - frequentative. In slovak -ievať, -vať at the end of the verbs are used for expression of something frequentative.

The translations of mentioned expressions:
_I'm thinking of you / Myslím na teba_ - means right now
_I think of you often / Myslím na teba často_ or_ Často na teba myslím_ 
You can see here that the verb "myslím" is exactly in the same form and the only difference is the word "často" which is determining.


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## Azori

TKD said:


> *Pomyslieť si* is mostly used in the past or future.


Not just "mostly", it's used _only _in the past and future as the perfective verbs don't have the present tense.


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## Azori

mateo19 said:


> Have I spelled them all correctly?:
> dok. = dokonavý = perfective
> nedok. = nedokonavý= imperfective
> opak. = opakovací = frequentative


Yes Mateo, you have.


mateo19 said:


> PS. My teacher also gave us a great test to see if a verb is perfective or imperfective (sometimes we're not sure!).  If you can use it in the future with *byť*, then it is imperfective (this works roughly 99% of the time).  Since we can say "Budem na teba myslieť", we autmatically know that myslieť is an imperfective verb.


Thanks for the explanation.


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