28th February, 2010

“glauben” und “denken” in German

posted 5 months ago

The German verbs glauben [‘ɡl͜aubɘn] (reg.) = (to) think and denken [‘dɛnkɘn] (irreg.) = (to) think are probably not easy for beginners of German to differentiate. They’re interchangeable very often, however, here are some rules that may help you.

“glauben (an)” is used more in the sense of (to) believe
e.g. Ich glaube Paul hat eine Freundin = I think (believe) Paul has a girlfriend.
Er glaubt an Gott = He believes in God.

“denken” is more used to express your opinion.
e.g. Ich denke, dass das eine gute Idee ist = I think that’s a good idea.

It can also be used in the sense of (to) think about sth/sb -> über etw./jmd. nachdenken; (to) think of sth/sb -> an etw./jmd. denken

(thx to an anomynous reader for asking this question :))

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