# according to me



## Drink

How would you normally say "according to me". I know technically it should just be "לפי", but I feel like if you said that people would think that you're saying "according to..." and that something should come after it. Am I wrong about this?


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## origumi

What do you mean by "according to me"? If "in my opinion" then לדעתי. If you consider yourself an authority for some subject then you'd have to rephrase it somehow, for example לפי (או על פי) מומחיותי, but this would sound clumsy (as in English).


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## Drink

origumi said:


> What do you mean by "according to me"?



I guess what I had in mind was you say something and someone asks "according to who?" (לפי מי?) and you answer "according to me".


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## origumi

לפי doesn't work here, as you noticed. I can think of:

משה: מי אומר?
דוד: אני אומר!

Yet, as written above, it's not a direct translation but rendering.


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## bazq

Indeed, quite a pickle.
לפי definitely cannot be used in these contexts (except for the 3rd person? [לפי מי, לפיו]).
I think maybe על פי works:
לפי מי?
על פי (perhaps an elongated i to stress the "me"? [al pii]).
It works with other pronouns just fine, a bit problematic with the 1st person.sg. but speakers will get this (will assume cooperation and informativeness).

Though most of the time, as origumi said, a rephrasing will occur with a noun לפי דעתי, לטענתו etc.


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## Drink

Hmm... I wonder why there is such a difference between לפי and על פי. Why doesn't לפי with an elongated i work [lefii]? Is it just because על פי is two words that it can be used this way? Or is it just the change of expression? If the original question were "על פי מי?", could you still say על פי [al pii]?

Also, how would you solve this problem in writing?


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## origumi

These forms (לפי-י, על פי-י) practically do not exist.


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## hadronic

Is לפי in the literal meaning of "to my mouth" still ok? היא מכניסה אוכל לפי.
But I guess one would usually pronounce it le-pi in this context.


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## Haskol

I think לפי דעתי would be the most useful here.
Or if it's something you've already said or written then לפי מה שכתבתי or לפי מה שאמרתי
I think you wouldn't use "according to me" in English either most of the time.


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## amikama

hadronic said:


> Is לפי in the literal meaning of "to my mouth" still ok? היא מכניסה אוכל לפי.


Yes.


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## Drink

Haskol said:


> I think לפי דעתי would be the most useful here.
> Or if it's something you've already said or written then לפי מה שכתבתי or לפי מה שאמרתי



So how would you answer if someone asks you "לפי מי?"



Haskol said:


> I think you wouldn't use "according to me" in English either most of the time.



Yes, but most of the time is not all of the time.


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