La Differenza Tra i Verbi To Think e To Guess

Oggi parliamo della differenza fra due verbi simili, ma diversi, che possono creare confusione quando tradotti letteralmente dall’italiano. Parecchia confusione.

To think

Pensare, credere, ritenere, supporre
Questa parola si usa per esprimere una tua opinione, oppure per dire qualcosa che pensi che sia un fatto/dato certo.

? My boss thinks that it’s okay to send me 50 emails after work every evening and that I’m expected to respond!

? She thinks that it’s better to raise her children in the suburbs, so they are moving out of the city next year.

? I think that the concert starts at 9:00pm tonight.

? They think that they are going to win the game, but I think they’re wrong.

To guess

Indovinare, ipotizzare, immaginare
La parola ‘guess’ ha il significato, semplicemente, di ‘provare a indovinare’. PERÒ, quando vogliamo esprimere il nostro “Immagino che…”, questa è la parola giusta.

A: “Guess how many pieces of candy are in this jar.” 
B: “If I had to guess, I would say there are about 50 pieces.”

A: “Our trip back from NY was awful; our flight was delayed five hours and then we had two layovers before we arrived in Milan.”
B: “I guess you’re probably exhausted.”

?I guess working as a teacher nowadays is a really hard job; teachers are accountable for the success of their students and students aren’t as diligent or well-behaved as they used to be.

?NB: Per dire “Immagino!” come risposta a un commento o un racconto, la traduzione giusta sarebbe “I bet!” oppure “I’m sure!”.

Ancora confusi? Impossibile.