The phrase “pour moi” literally means “for me”, but you can also use it as a way of giving your opinion in French.
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Giving your opinion

If you place “pour moi” in front of a statement, you’re basically saying that the statement is your opinion.

c'est bon – it’s good
pour moi, c’est bon – I think it’s good

You can translate it as “I think”, like in the sentence above, or you could also say “in my opinion”

c’est fantastique – it’s fantastic
pour moi, c’est fantastique – I think it’s fantastic / in my opinion, it’s fantastic

c’est terrible – it’s terrible
pour moi, c’est terrible – I think it’s terrible / in my opinion, it’s terrible

The two meanings of "I think"

Now, I said you can use “pour moi” to give your opinion, and you can translate it using “I think” into English. However, you can’t translate every instance of “I think” using “pour moi”; it has to be an opinion.

Have a look at the two sentences below, the first is an opinion, but the second is not


I think it’s good
I think it’s here

You can say that you think something is good, and that’s an opinion. However, if you say, “I think it’s here”, that is not an opinion; it’s simply something you believe to be true. You can’t use “pour moi” in this instance. You can always check whether or not you can use “pour moi” by replacing the “I think” in a sentence with “in my opinion”. If it still makes sense with “in my opinion”, you can use “pour moi”.

I think it’s here
in my opinion, it’s here

The second sentence is not something we could really say in English, so you need an alternative expression for “I think” in French.

Je pense (que)

There’s another phrase that you can use to mean “I think”, and you can use it in any situation: je pense

The only thing to remember when using “je pense”, however, is that you have to put the word “que” before the next part of the sentence.

je pense que c’est bon – I think it’s good
je pense que c’est pour moi – I think it’s for me
je pense que c’est ici – I think it’s here

If you place “que” in front of a word that starts with a vowel or the letter H, you have to contract it to qu’

je pense qu’il est français – I think he’s French
je pense qu’elle est belle – I think she’s beautiful
je pense qu’ils sont ici – I think they’re here

The word “que”, in this situation, means “that”, and it’s something that is optional in English.

I think it’s good / I think that it’s good
I think Pierre is here / I think that Pierre is here
I think everybody is nice / I think that everybody is nice

You can choose whether or not to use it in English, but in French, you always have to say “je pense que” to say that you think something.

je pense que c’est bon – I think (that) it’s good
je pense que Pierre est ici – I think (that) Pierre is here
je pense que tout le monde est sympa – I think (that) everybody is nice

There’s another phrase that you can use to mean “I think”, and you can use it in any situation: je pense


The only thing to remember when using “je pense”, however, is that you have to put the word “que” before the next part of the sentence.

je pense que c’est bon – I think it’s good
je pense que c’est pour moi – I think it’s for me
je pense que c’est ici – I think it’s here

If you place “que” in front of a word that starts with a vowel or the letter H, you have to contract it to qu’

je pense qu’il est français – I think he’s French
je pense qu’elle est belle – I think she’s beautiful
je pense qu’ils sont ici – I think they’re here

I think (that)

Other ways to give your opinion in French

There are lots of ways, both in English and in French, to give your opinion. You already know “pour moi” and “je pense que”, but there are quite a few more.

pour moi – in my opinion (literally: for me)
je pense que – I think that
à mon avis – in my opinion (in my view)
selon moi – according to me
quant à moi – regarding me
pour ma part – for my part
je crois que – I believe that
d'après moi – in my opinion
en ce qui me concerne – as for me (literally: as far as I’m concerned)


Obviously, we don’t say “regarding me” or really even “according to me” in English, but they do say them in French as ways of giving an opinion.

c'est parfait, à mon avis – it’s perfect, in my opinion

selon moi, tout était fantastique – in my opinion, everything was fantastic

je crois que Pierre est ici – I believe (that) Pierre is here

If you’re on 3 Minute French – Course 1, don’t worry about learning all those phrases above; I only included them here to show you the variety that is available in French. For now, simply stick with “pour moi”, and we’ll come to each of the other phrases in later courses.

Let's practise

Using either “pour moi” or “je pense que”, see if you can translate the following sentences into French. If you don't know some of the vocabulary, use the "Vocabulary" tab below.

Sentences
Vocabulary
  1. I think it’s here
  2. I think it’s fantastic
  3. I think the children are here
  4. I think that is very good
  5. I think everybody is very nice
  6. I think the wine is delicious
  7. I think the wine is expensive
  8. I think the wine is there
  9. I think everybody is here now
  10. I think that is beautiful

here – ici
fantastic – fantastique
the children – les enfants
are – sont
very – très
good – bon
nice – sympa
the wine – le vin
delicious – délicieux
expensive – cher
there – là
everybody – tout le monde
now – maintenant
beautiful – beau

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