The potential form 思う and 思える are two different things?


The potential form of 思う is 思える. If 思う is "to think", then 思える is "can think",
right?

Well... at tangorin.com 思える is translated as "to seem" and "to appear likely".
So 思える is different verb or there is a translation problem here?

Thank you.




Yes, 思える is technically the potential of 思う, and it can be used in both the
sense of "The ability to feel ~" something or in a more "seems like ~" sense.
I agree with Nothing at all's comment that these things are not that
different.

In my (somewhat subjective) experience, Tte main difference when using the 思える
form is that the subject is de-emphasized, which is similar in English (ex: "I
feel it is old" vs. "It seems old").

Here is a random example phrase (pulled from
[this](https://job.rikunabi.com/2016/company/blog/detail/r293400090/33/) site)

> 「働きたい！」と思える企業に出会う3つの事
>
> Three ways to help find a company where you can really feel "I want to work
> here!"

You could change the form to 思う here (and thereby remove the "can" from the
English translation), but I feel it's a bit more natural keeping it as is.

Note that in this example I don't think translating it as "seem" would be
appropriate, although there are surely cases like that.

But overall, just start out by interpreting it as the potential of
"think/feel" and that will likely lead you to a proper interpretation.

