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I didn't really know how to word the title, so I'll try to explain better now.

So, I know that the standard, かっこいいと思う would be I think it's cool, but I was playing a game, and it said, クラーラはかっこいいと思います, and the translation was "I think it's cool" (spoken by Clara). But couldn't this also translate to "I think Clara is cool.

For example, if I said, 「私はかっこいいと思う」. Could it translate to both, "I think it's cool" and "I think I am cool"? the standard thing that goes into my mind would be "I think I am cool," but could it also mean, "I think it is cool,"? Like in the sentence mentioned earlier?

If it could mean both, then I guess its just depends content to understand it?

Infernoboy
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1 Answers1

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You're correct, クラーラはかっこいいと思います means both "I, Clara, think it's cool" and "I think Clara is cool" depending mainly on who said this. For the former to work, the character must be someone who uses her own name as the first-person "pronoun", which is rare in English but relatively common in Japanese. Note that クラーラはかっこいいと思います cannot mean "Someone thinks Clara is cool" because 思います does not work with a third person's thoughts: 思っている/言っている with a third person subject?

The same for 私はかっこいいと思う.

naruto
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