what does"i think so" actuually mean?
By Brook909
@Brook909 (110)
April 3, 2013 3:53am CST
hi,dear mylotters,i have another question today.what on earth does 'i think so'mean?is the sentence always positive or sometimes negative? For example:
A:I don't think we've met.
B:I think so.
so here is the question.what on earth is it ? A has met B or A hasn't met B?
another example:
A:I don't think he is a good guy.
B:I don't think so.
Actually,the guy is good or bad?
if "i think so" is ambiguous,how do you response the dialogue 'i don't think we've met''i don't think he is right'
many thanks!
3 responses
@wittygenie28 (92)
• Philippines
3 Apr 13
This phrase is used in many ways however; in the above situation, I am afraid that the phrase was used incorrectly. First, person A's statement is awfully lacking. Probable, he means: "I don't think we've met, have we?" and then the correct answer for person B would be:"Yes, I think so." (which means they haven't met) or " No, don't think so." (which means they've met)
When dealing with tag questions, we have to remember that positive verb = negative tag and vise versa. Let's take a look at the statement:
"I don't think we've met, have we?" = this translates to "We haven't met, have we?" which makes it negative. Using 'I don't think' in a tag question makes the whole statement negative which will then make your tag questions in positive form.
I hope that I helped you with your query and not confuse you all the more. :-)
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
3 Apr 13
In your first paragraph you have the meanings the wrong way round, wittygenie28.
If the question were: "I don't think we've met, have we?", "Yes, I think so." would mean that the other person thinks they have met (in other words, disagrees with the statement/question) and "No, I don't think so." is actually an agreement!
Even a simple answer "No." is quite possible and acceptable and would mean that the respondent agrees that they haven't met before. The simple answer "Yes" to such a question would be confusing because it could either mean "Yes, I agree." or "Yes, we have met." whereas "No" would always be taken as an agreement!
@wittygenie28 (92)
• Philippines
4 Apr 13
:-) Yay! So I guess I've got to go back to my grammar books and read this topic again if I get them both wrong. Thanks for the clarification. It always helps as I am not a native speaker as you are.:-)
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
3 Apr 13
"I think" is used to express an opinion. The opinion may be positive or negative.
Native English speakers would never respond as in the examples you give here because such answers would be ambiguous.
Full and correct responses (either agreeing or disagreeing) would be:
A: "I don't think we've met."
B: "Yes, I think/believe that we have." (B would usually go on to remind A when they had met before) OR "No, I don't think/believe that we have."
A: "I don't think he is a good guy."
B: "No, I don't think so either." OR "I think/believe that he is." (Would usually be followed by B's reasons for disagreeing with A's opinion).
@wittygenie28 (92)
• Philippines
3 Apr 13
I think that your response to his question is much clearer than mine. I totally agree that native speakers would never create such confusion by answering in such ways. I have yet to encounter a native speaker that would give a confusing answer.
@ElvisH1978 (101)
• United States
3 Apr 13
A better way for the conversation to go would be this way.
A. Have we met before?
B. I don't think so.
In this example, B is stating that he or she does not think that they have met before. It could mean that he does not remember if they met, but at the same time they could have met too. This answer is more reserved for if a person does not remember whether or not they met the other. Person A could look familiar so that could be why this response is given. "Yes" or "No" would be better to use if person B knows for a fact or not if they have met.
The second example is a bit more problematic. It looks more like B is disagreeing with A. However, B's usage can also be confirming that the guy is a bad. Person A's statement could make it confusing. American English can be hard to understand at times because of slang usuage and just usage in general can trip up people not used to it.
