# אני חושב / נדמה לי / נראה לי



## sawyeric1

These both mean "I think". Are there differences in usage, or are they interchangeable? 

Thanks


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## Drink

sawyeric1 said:


> These both mean "I think". Are there differences in usage, or are they interchangeable?
> 
> Thanks



נדמה לי means "it appears to me".


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## sawyeric1

At the grocery store, someone says:
נדמה לי שאין ביצים בבית​_I don't think there are any eggs at home_

It would be awkward to translate this as "It appears to me that there aren't any eggs at home", don't you think? So that's why נדמה לי seems to be able to also mean the more tangible "I think".


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## Drink

If this person realized this while still at home, and then happens to talk about it at the store, then that would explain your example. Or this person had just been told over the phone that there are no eggs at home.

Side note: I think you are misusing the word "tangible".


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## sawyeric1

I guess it depends on the person. I still wouldn't use it in that case. It seems too philosophical sounding to use regarding an ordinary thing like groceries. 

Tangible can mean less abstract.


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## Drink

sawyeric1 said:


> Tangible can mean less abstract.



Thinking is in your head, appearing involves seeing with your eyes. Clearly the thinking is more abstract and appearing is more tangible.


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## sawyeric1

The construction "it appears to me" is an idiom that basically means "it seems to me", which is vaguer than simply thinking something.

Source: appear to

Hopefully, a native Hebrew speaker can give us perspective on how "נדמה לי" is thought of and used in relation to our exchange about English translating of it.


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## amikama

אני חושב is simply "I think".

נדמה לי may also mean "I think", but it has the connotation of "I'm not sure about it". It's not always interchangeable with אני חושב.
אני חושב שהחולצה הזו יפה עליך 
נדמה לי שהחולצה הזו יפה עליך  (maybe OK, but it doesn't sound natural to me.)

נדמה לי שאין ביצים בבית = I'm not 100% sure, but I think there aren't any eggs at home.


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## sawyeric1

I just came across ניראה לי. How does it compare to the other two?


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## sawyeric1

Also, this is from a LingQ Lesson:

M. So, are [we] going tomorrow or not?
אז, נוסעים מחר או לא נוסעים מחר?

F. What do you think [we should do]? (nonliteral)
מה אתה אומר?

M. I think it depends on the weather
לדעתי, זה תלוי במזג האוויר

My tutor translated the Hebrew into English for me. I was wondering why he uses לדעתי instead of חושב. In English it would be strange to respond with, "In my opinion, it depends on the weather".


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## amikama

Interesting. So לדעתי and "in my opinion" don't entirely overlap in usage? I always assumed so.

In your example לדעתי is fine. He could also say אני חושב שזה תלוי במזג האוויר with more or less the same meaning.


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## sawyeric1

What about ניראה לי? How does it compare to נדמה לי and אני חושב?


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## amikama

sawyeric1 said:


> What about ניראה לי? How does it compare to נדמה לי and אני חושב?


I'd say that נראה לי (note: no yud) is pretty much similar to נדמה לי.


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## sawyeric1

So it also implies uncertainty?


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## sawyeric1

Like "נדמה לי"?


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## sawyeric1

I would say do what makes sense for you
אני מציע, תעשי מה שנראה לך

How do you know that it means "makes sense" if the literal meaning of נראה is "to seem, to appear, to be visible", and "זה נראה לי" doesn't have much to do with making sense, but with something you believe in?


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## utopia

sawyeric1, I see that in NIFAL and HITPAEL you add a yod: ניראה, להיתעסק

There is no yod in this place.


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## Amadé

sawyeric1 said:


> I would say do what makes sense for you
> אני מציע, תעשי מה שנראה לך
> 
> How do you know that it means "makes sense" if the literal meaning of נראה is "to seem, to appear, to be visible", and "זה נראה לי" doesn't have much to do with making sense, but with something you believe in?


Because "I would say do what makes sense *for you*". It may or may not make sense to others. This expression doesn't imply dominance of belief over logical assumption or vice versa, it's simply a colloquial (and extremely common) version of נדמה לי.


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## sawyeric1

utopia said:


> sawyeric1, I see that in NIFAL and HITPAEL you add a yod: ניראה, להיתעסק
> 
> There is no yod in this place.


 K thanks


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