‘Think’ is another one of these words that translates to several different things in other languages, so here’s a post on all the different ways you can talk about what’s goin’ on in the old grey matter:
فكر fakkar
This one we all know from fuSHa (in fact this is true of most of the words here). It has two major meanings. The first is thinking about something, which takes b- for a noun or a subjunctive for a verb:
عم فكر سافر ع اروبا
3am fakker saafer 3ala 2oorubba
I’m thinking about/of going to Europe
ضليتني طول الليل عم فكر فيكي
Dalleetni Tool élleel 3am fakker fiiki
I was thinking about you all night long [= I stayed the whole night thinking about you]
The second one is thinking that X is Y. This one is very common. Note that this is one of those verbs which in Arabic usually appears in the past or as a participle (perhaps on the basis that fakkar is considered to constitute one single non-drawn out action, like ‘arrive at the conclusion that’). The present بفكر is not used as an equivalent to English ‘I think’:
فكرتك مو جايه اليوم
fakkartak muu jaayye lyoom
I thought you weren’t coming today [= I thought you aren’t coming today]
مين مفكر حالك؟
miin @mfakker 7aalak?
Who do you think you are? [= who do you think yourself?]
ان شاء الله مفكرتيني عم ابكي
nshaLLa mfakkértiini 3am 2ébki!
I hope you [don’t] think I’m crying! [= God willing you think me crying!]
وليش لحتى فكرك اهبل؟
wleesh la7atta fakkrak 2ahbal?
Why would I think you’re an idiot?
As you can see, in most of these cases the most common natural choice is with a direct object and a tamyiiz (or whatever you want to interpret the second object as), i.e. a second object which is either a verbal sentence (like in 3am 2ébki), a participle sentence, or a noun etc. Sentences with 2énno can also follow fakkar, though:
اللي مفكر إنو الاحتفالات خلصت بكون غلطان
élli mfakker 2énno l2i7tifaalaat khélSet bikuun ghalTaan!
Anyone who thinks that [ = the one who thinks that] the celebrations are over is wrong!
فكرت انو وصلنا
fakkar@t 2énno waSSalna
I thought we’d got there
فكرـ fékr-
This is used with pronominal suffixes and is probably classifiable as a pseudoverb: fékrak. It’s generally pretty similar in meaning to فكّر:
يا حبيبي إذا فكرك تخوّفنا بحب ذكرك نحنا ما منخاف الا من ربنا.
yaa 7abiibi 2iza fikrak @tkhawwéfna b7ébb zakkrak né7na maa ménkhaaf 2élla mén rabbna
Listen, pal, if you think you’re going to scare us I’d like to remind you that we fear only God
إذا شايفني مُش عم بشكي فكرك يعني مُش موجوع
2iza shaayifni mish 3am babki fikrak ya3ni mush mawjuu3?
If you see that I’m not crying do you think that means I’m not in pain?
بإنتخابات الجاي فكري أعمل رئيس قلم وإنتخب قبل بيومين تلاته من كل الناس
bil2intikhaabaat ijjaay fikri 2a3mel ra2iis qalam w2antekheb 2abel yoomeen @tlaate min kull innaas
In the next elections I’m thinking of being a returning clerk and casting my vote two or three days before everyone else
ظن يظن Zann yZénn
This one occasionally appears without b- (2aZunn), which is a fuSHaism. In Palestine and Jordan you might hear baZunn-ni with a repeated pronoun on the end (similar to ضل ‘stay, keep’). It usually appears with إنو, or with a full sentence without 2inno. It is used to say ‘I think [it is likely that]’:
سياسي بظن
siyaasi bZenn
He’s a politician I think
He’s probably a politician
بظن غير شي
bZenn gheer shi
I think it’s (probably) something else
والله بظن يوجد اهم من قضية محمد صلاح
waLLa bZenn yuujad 2ahamm min 2aDiit @m7ammad Salaa7
To be honest I think there are more important things than the Mohammed Salah issue
بظن انو هي وقفت حسابها معناتو، لأن حتى عندي هيك
baZunn 2inno hiyye wa22afet 7isaabha ma3naato, la2enn 7atta 3indi heek
I think she [must have] closed her account then, because [it looks] like that even for me
It is also used very commonly on its own:
ما بظن
maa bZenn
I don’t think so
اعتقد i3ta2ad, i3taqad
A possibly slightly more high-register variant of Zann (especially if you use it with the qaaf). Used in the same way syntactically:
لازم ينشال لان غير انو المنظر بشع بعتقد كمان ضيق على الطريق
laazem yinshaal la2enn gheer 2inno lmanZar bishe3 bi3te2ed kamaan dayye2 3a TTarii2
They have to get rid of it, because on top of it being an eyesore I think it’s blocking the road [= it’s narrow on the road]
اعتبر i3tabar
Probably best translated as ‘consider’ or ‘think X to be’:
صادقة وكلشي فيا حلوو وهي عنيدة صح بس انا ما بعتبر هالشي سلبي لاني انا كمان عنيدة
saad2a w kill shi fiyya 7ilw w hiyye 3aniide Sa77 bass 2ana maa bi3teber hashshi salbi la2enni 2ana kamaan 3aniide
she’s honest and everything about her is lovely, and it’s true that she’s stubborn but I don’t consider that to be a bad thing because I’m stubborn too
خطرلو, خطر ع بالو khaTarlo, khaTar 3abaalo
These two both mean ‘it occurred to him’ – the second one with an extra بال baal ‘mind’ (so ‘it occurred to his mind’).
غريب بعرفش كيف خطر ع بالي
ghariib ba3rafesh kiif khaTar 3a baali
Weird – I don’t know how I thought of it/how it occurred to me
خطر على بالي أني روح قول للمدير أني الأنترنت رح يقطع
khaTar 3a baali 2inni ruu7 2uul lalmudiir 2inni l2internet ra7 yi2Ta3
I thought about telling/it occurred to me that I could tell the boss that the internet was going to be cut off
سؤال خطر ع بالي
su2aal khaTar 3a baali
A question that I just thought of
It has a causative:
ما بعرف شو خطرلي اسمع اوبريت الحلم العربي
maa ba3ref shu khaTTarli 2isma3 2oobreet il7ilm il3arabi
I don’t know what made me think to watch the Arab Dream operetta
Verbs with specific ‘think X’ meanings
There’s a type of verb, mostly form X (staf3al) verbs, which typically means ‘deem/think X Y’, where X is the object and Y is an adjective incorporated into the verb by means of a root. These verbs are only occasionally best translated with ‘think’:
شو هالكام الف استكترتون عليي يعني؟
shu halkaam 2alf @staktarton 3aleyyi ya3ni?
What, you don’t think I deserve a few thousand lira? [= what, this few thousand you think are too much for me?]
لا هادا مستبعد تماما
la2 haada mustab3ad tamaaman
No, that’s completely ruled out [= thought to be بعيد, i.e. very unlikely]