In this lesson you will learn several ways to use the English verb “to think” in Luxembourgish. Over the years of teaching Luxembourgish I have come across students struggling when trying to say “I think ….” in Luxembourgish. You must know that there are lots of different verbs in Luxembourgish to express the act of thinking. I have picked up the most commonly used for this lesson.
To think (to assume, to believe)
When you believe that something could be true or think that it could be this way, then we use mengen
Beispiller (examples)
Ech mengen, du hues recht.
I think you’re right (informal).
Ech mengen, hatt wunnt elo an England.
I think she lives in England now.
Ech mengen, ech gi geschwënn.
I think, I’ll leave soon.
If you are not sure that you are going to do/say something, or if you’re planning / considering doing something then you use denken / denken un:
Ech denken, ech gi geschwënn.
I think (I plan), I’ll leave soon.
Kënns du muer? Ech denke schonn.
Are you coming tomorrow? I think (but I’m not sure) so.
Eis Noperen denken drun en Haus ze kafen.
Our neighbours are thinking (are considering) about buying a house.
We use denken un as well in the sense of “to remember“:
Denk un däi Rendez-Vous beim Doktor!
Remember (don’t forget) your appointment at the doctor.
To think (to deliberate on something)
Use the verb iwwerleeën if you want to use I think in the sense of “to deliberate on something”
Meng Mamm huet de Kontrakt ënnerschriwwen ouni z’iwwerleeën.
My mother signed the contract without thinking.
Mäi Mann iwwerleet, ob hie mat engem Frënd op London goe soll.
My husband thinks about whether he should go with a friend to London.
I thought …
We use ech hu geduecht (geduecht is the past participle of denken) if we believe that something was true but we found out it wasn’t.
Beispiller (examples)
Ech hu geduecht, du géifs méi laang fort bleiwen.
I thought that you would stay away for a longer period of time.
Ech hu geduecht, du wiers doheem.
I thought you were at home.
To think about
To talk about pondering over a situation, use nodenken iwwer. This is a separable verb.
Ech muss nach iwwer dës Fro nodenken.
I still have to think about this question.
Ech denken oft iwwer meng Zukunft no.
I often think about my future.
Hues du iwwer mäi Virschlag nogeduecht?
Have you thought about my suggestion?
What do you think of…?
To ask or give an opinion as an evaluation of a person, an idea, etc. you can either use the verbs halen vun, fannen or mengen:
Wat häls du vun ….?, or
Wéi fënns du … ? or
Wat mengt Dir vun ….?
Wat häls du vun dëser Iddi? / Wéi fënns du dës Iddi? / Wat mengs du vun dëser Iddi?
What do you think of this idea?
Wat haalt dir vun der Wunneng? Wéi fannt dir d’Wunneng?
What do you think of the flat?
Wéi fënns du meng nei Schong? Wat häls du vu menge neie Schong?
What do you think of my new shoes?
Now of course this is just a choice and not a complete list of the possible ways to use the verb “to think” in Luxembourgish. There are other ways for example: sech Gedanke maachen iwwer “to give thought about something” or bedenken “to ponder, to take into account“.
I hope that this lesson was helpful. You can watch this lesson HERE so to practice your listening and pronunciation skills.
If you liked this lesson, then why not share it with your friends:-) Villmools merci!
