I think you know.
I think that you know.
I know you think.
I know that you think.
I always want to use ‘that’ on phrases like these. Does it matter one way or the other?
Thanks in advance.
It does not change the meaning at all, but sometimes “that” can make a statement clearer. e.g. in the sentence “he thinks that pasta tastes good”, it could either mean “pasta” in general or “that pasta” as in a certain type of pasta; whereas if you say “he thinks that that pasta is good” it is clear that it is a specific kind of pasta.
“that” can be unattractive in sentences such as “I think that that car that you want is ugly”, but it is not considered wrong. I don’t think you would make any error by always including “that” if you wanted to.
Reminds me of the old grammar games with the sentences that had the same word repeated several times (the trick is to punctuate correctly)
He said that that that that that man used was wrong.
(He said that that “that” that that man had written was incorrect).
Another I remember (getting of topic here) has 11 consecutive had’s in a grammatically correct sentence:
During the grammar test, John, where Jim had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on his grade.
(During the grammar test, John, where Jim had had “had,” had had “had had;” “had had” had had a better effect on his grade).
Well, you get the idea…
This is a grammar point where French (book French at least) shows it’s rigidity. You can say “I think books are small” but you can’t say “Je pense les livres sont petits”: you must say “Je pense QUE les livres sont petits.” Even looking at the incorrect version makes think “Quoi? Vous pensez livres? Demain, vous allez mentir livres et venir livres et même mourir livres sans doute. Vous êtes idiots! Et qui est petit?” ("What? You think books? Doubtlessly you’re going to lie books and come books and even die books tomorrow. You’re idiots! And what’s small?)
Based on what I know of Old English, this quality of loose grammar has a long history. If anything, I suspect English grammar has grown more rigid à la française over the centuries (after all, Old English has less of a so-called future tense than Modern English).
P.S. Those grammar games are quite fun.
The ‘thats’ in your examples are conjunctions. In short clear sentences like those it doesn’t matter one way or the other. The meaning is clear.
(I think they indicate indirect speech here.)
“I was thinking you knew I was fired” is clear.(indirect speech)
“I was thinking the day before yesterday you knew I was fired” is not clear. (indirect speech.) It can mean:
- I was thinking: “You knew the day before yesterday I was fired.” (direct speech)
- I was thinking the day before yesterday: “You knew I was fired.” (direct speech)
By placing the conjunction ‘That’ (or a comma) in the proper place you clear up the meaning.
Thank-you, y’all have been very helpful.
Very funny, e. I thought that you were pulling my leg until I saw the punctuation!
Tis interesting, though, that you still choose “I thought thatyou were pulling my leg…”
I’ve thought about the inflexibility of the conjunction “que” in French before, too, GlottalGreekGeek. . . but having never spent any time around native speakers, I can’t speak for their psychology–yet. I’ll be over there for a week later this month!
David
Don’t look at me, bellum, everyone said that it was ok!
In Spanish we use ‘que’ just like in French (them folks just have to copy everything from us).
By the way, G-G-G, can I call you G-string? 
You’ve gotta recognise that those are two different words that happen to be spelt the same.
Here they can even be pronounced differently, ie:
Both can be pronounced ðæt (stressed)
But
Only the conjunction may be pronounced ðət (unstressed) {OK, it seems I can’t post a schwa, so for now, that square is a schwa}
" ðət ðæt" sounds good.
GGG - I enjoyed reading your french! Are you french? For this sounded much like that which a french person would say.
They are also very critical and not very understanding as far as some foreigners’ inability to pronounce the “u” sound is concerned. This is a large problem as I am the only one round here who can. This includes my teacher. Also, one time though I clearly said “sang” she shouted at me claiming that I said breast “sein”. She must have been deaf. It’s like every one in greek saying fire instead of in order to.
Swedish people also omit their “att”, which is often pronounced “o”. So you could say Jag tror dina barn ska skjutas av cweb255, som sprang bort fór några år sedan And we all love our s-passive! Just add an s onto the active form and you are done. An example for cweb255: Jag älskade, I loved; Jag älskades, I was loved.
French shop-keepers are notorious for not selling you their fares unless you can pronounce the name of what you want to buy to their satisfaction. They’re all like the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld.
Which reminds me of that time I went into a paper shop to buy a note-book. “What size?” asks the clerk; “I don’t care.” “Of course you care, the size of the paper is very important!” “Ok, DIN A-4.” “College ruled, blank, squared?” “Listen, I just need to jot something down, just sell me a note-book, will you?” “Not unless I know what you need to better serve my customers!” “Ok, make it college-ruled.” “20-pound weight, 30-pound weight, or 40-pound weight?”
At this point a guy enters the store carrying a toilet bowl on his shoulder. He goes to the counter and says "Yesterday I showed you my butt, and here is the toilet. Now, can I have some toilet paper, please?
My mother used to be very critical of my pronunciation of the “u” sound, and French isn’t even her native language, nor do either of us have a drop of French blood in us. But when she lived in France her French pronunciation was so good that she fooled native speakers into thinking she was French, so there you go.
Salut Episcope!
Franchement, je ne crois pas que ce soit vrai cela. Les Français sont tolérants envers les étrangers essayant de parler leur langue. Vraiment. Il faut éviter les fautes qui dérangent le sens, certes! Elle ne t’a pas compris, c’est tout. Tu ne crois pas?
Quel plaisir, d’ailleurs, de voir, que tu t’épanouisses en suédois! Quant à la voix passive en suédois, il y a une autre possibilité, qui est assez répandue (voir: http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/006/007/ecp00607.pdf ). C’est le passif périphrastique. Pour le composer, il ne faut qu’employer le verbe, devenir, att bli, au temps désiré et le participe passé. Et voilà. Ton exemple: Jag blev älskat.
Le passif avec att bli! Que Je sache!
Toutefois, les francais que j’ai connu furent plutot refractaires aux etrangers; vraiment, ils me repondaient d’une facon insupportablement froide, puisque l’eveque, quoqu’il ne fut qu’un stupide etranger, etait capable de comprendre tout ce qu’ils avaient eu l’intention de cacher. J’avais quand meme resolu l’enigme, ils commencerent donc a parler plus rapidement qu’une crevette au seuil de se faire bouillir de la mere de cweb255 et bien sur son frere whiteoctave. Voila, vous avez lu l’histoire de mes vacances en France, je ne mentis aucunement. C’est toi, amans, qui suces les oignons des gens de cet affreux pays, qui veut lecher les croutes de fromage francais bleu sur le derriere de JACK CHIRAC, qui vient de se renseigner dans un livre suedois au sujet du passif, som faktist alrig kunde tala på svenska bättre än den här biskopen, toutinos mor är nemo alius que cweb255. BONUS DIAS
Je ne comprends franchement pas pourquoi tu es aussi agressif, Episcope. Pourquoi ne dis-tu pas gentiment que tu n’es pas d’accord? C’est ce que j’ai fait, moi, à propos de ce que tu disais des Français. J’ai de bons amis français. Je suis désolé, que n’en aies apparemment pas.
Det gör mig ont, att du tänker på detta sättet, Biskop. Jag kan också prata svenska, men jag förstår, att du har ganska höga meningar om deg själv. Det er verkligen vackert, at du kjenner så vel det svenska språket. Jag gav linket til den svenska uppsats för at göra deg en tjänst - inte för att irritera deg.
Detta er inte den första gången, att du är så ovänlig emot meg. Varför är det så? Jag förstår det ej. Allt hva jag vel er ett vänligt samtal med deg. Intet annars.
In other words: please be nice to people who wish you well. If you ever feel offended, Episcope, why don’t you just contact a moderator? I am sure these good people will take the appropriate measures.
Amans, we all suspect that whiteoctave, cweb, their respective mothers and Episcopus are one and the same.
On my first day here I was this close myself to give him an earful for disrespecting someone’s mother, but when I saw that all the good folks here went along with it, I put two and two together.
(You better not have said anything about me, Episcopus. 
)
Je ne faisais que plaisanter amans!
bravo! How did you come to learn swedish? And why? It is a minor European language after all. Do you enjoy the basic reading ability of danish and norwegian as I do?
People are so polite here! Round here, you get insulted for nothing! I must say, I do miss cweb255 and his side splitting dog latin!!
Speaking of swedish, where the duk (cloth) is Dingbats our swedish friend?
I learned Swedish because I liked the sound of it. I think it is a pretty language: prettier than Norwegian and Danish in my humble opinion. Swedish it is not too hard to learn, and as you implied: it gives you access to the other Scandinavian languages. Good fun 
Faroese and Icelandic are difficult to handle though. What are your own reasons for studying Swedish, Episcope?
It seems people just learn Swedish because of it’s sound. I won’t deny it, I feel atracted to it since I heard a Swedish song. Hope someday I get to learn it too 
oh I don’t know the trees oh yes the pines the lakes oh yes the mountains the girls oh yes I remember my friend called melanie so little she was then doing the macarena for me but not knew linda anna och emma ooh i dont know the air oh yes luften the green macdonalds the way you get 50 ore for recycling a can oh yes the little o above their a å the sound yes the sound I consent prettier indeed than the other tongues and despite so many cognates (say “vi såg en bank” out loud) with english so hard to understand the spoken language! did I mention the girls dont like the middle aged viking swedish women however with a hytt up their bytt.