Exprimer son Opinion: structures

Saying what you think is one of the highest-frequency tasks in any language, and French has built up an unusually rich set of structures for it. Some are nearly identical to English (je pense que / I think that); some have no obvious English counterpart (selon moi, à mon avis); and one feature trips up nearly every learner: the mood shift that happens when you negate a verb of belief. Je pense qu'il a raison takes the indicative; Je ne pense pas qu'il ait raison takes the subjunctive — same verb, opposite polarity, different mood.

This page covers the grammar and pragmatics of expressing opinions in French. It surveys the major opinion phrases, separates assertion from doubt, walks through the polarity-driven mood alternation, and shows how to mark certainty and uncertainty along a continuum from confident assertion (je suis certain que) to tentative impression (il me semble que). It also flags the markers of agreement and disagreement that bracket opinion exchanges.

The opinion-introducing phrases

French has roughly two grammatical strategies for introducing an opinion: a prepositional phrase (à mon avis, selon moi) that frames the whole sentence, or a verbal expression (je pense que, je trouve que) that takes a clause. Both are extremely common; they differ in subtle ways.

Prepositional phrases: à mon avis, selon moi, d'après moi

These phrases hang at the start (or sometimes the end) of a sentence, separated from the rest by a comma, and frame the following statement as your opinion.

These four are roughly interchangeable, though there are stylistic differences:

• À mon avis is the most neutral and most common. Useful in any register.
• Selon moi is slightly more formal; common in writing and discussion.
• D'après moi is closer to judging by what I think — slightly more tentative.
• Pour moi is the most personal — as far as I'm concerned.

A useful feature: these prepositional phrases do not change the mood of the following clause. The rest of the sentence stays in the indicative.

Compare this with Je ne pense pas qu'il vienne demain (subjunctive after the negated belief verb). The prepositional phrases sidestep the mood question entirely.

Verbal expressions: je pense que, je crois que, je trouve que

The verbal route uses a verb of belief or judgment plus que. The mood of the following clause depends on whether the verb is affirmed or negated.

The most common verbs of opinion are penser (to think), croire (to believe), trouver (to find), estimer (to consider, formal), juger (to judge, formal), imaginer (to imagine), and supposer (to suppose).

There are subtle differences. Penser expresses a considered opinion. Croire leans toward belief based on faith or impression. Trouver expresses a personal evaluation, often subjective. Estimer is more formal and judicial-sounding. The English glosses think, believe, find don't fully capture these differences.

The polarity-driven mood shift

Here is where French gets interesting. The verbs of belief — penser, croire, trouver, estimer, imaginer, supposer — take the indicative when affirmed but the subjunctive when negated or questioned.

This is one of the cleanest illustrations of the French subjunctive's underlying logic. When you assert a belief, you are committing to its truth — the indicative is the mood of asserted reality. When you deny or question a belief, you back away from that commitment — the subjunctive is the mood of contingent or uncertain reality.

The pattern holds for all the belief verbs in this family.

The English speaker's instinct is to keep the same mood — English has no formal mood distinction here, just a tense difference at most. Resisting that instinct and flipping to subjunctive after a negated penser, croire, trouver is one of the markers of intermediate-to-advanced French competence.

Casual exception: the indicative after negated belief verbs

In informal spoken French, you will often hear the indicative even after negated belief verbs, especially with croire: Je crois pas qu'il vient (instead of qu'il vienne). This is a known variation in everyday speech and is increasingly common, but in writing and careful speech the subjunctive is required. For exam preparation and formal writing, always use the subjunctive after negated belief verbs.

Tentative opinions: il me semble que, j'ai l'impression que

A separate cluster of expressions allows you to express a tentative or provisional impression without committing fully to a belief.

These take the indicative when affirmed. Il me semble que is interesting because it can flip — when negated, it takes the subjunctive: Il ne me semble pas qu'il ait raison (I don't think he's right). But the construction il semble que (without me) takes the subjunctive even when affirmed: Il semble qu'il y ait un problème — because il semble without the personal me is more impersonal and tentative.

Strong assertion: certainty markers

When you want to assert your view confidently, French gives you a ladder of intensifiers.

These all take the indicative when affirmed. Personnellement often pairs with another opinion phrase (Personnellement, je pense..., Personnellement, à mon avis...) — it acts as an emphasis marker.

Disagreement and contradiction

When you disagree with someone else's stated opinion, French has a small set of phrases for marking the contradiction.

The phrase je dirais plutôt que (I'd rather say that) is a softening device — it lets you disagree without flatly contradicting.

A particularly French feature: when you disagree with a negative statement, you use si (yes) instead of oui.

This si is unique to French (and German doch, with which it functions identically). Using oui after a negative question would not register as a contradiction — si is the dedicated yes-after-no marker.

Asking for opinions

Mirror structures let you ask someone else for their opinion.

The phrase qu'est-ce que tu en penses (what do you think) uses en — the pronoun that replaces de + thing. It refers back to whatever was just under discussion. Qu'est-ce que tu en dis uses the same structure with dire (to say).

Hedging and softening

French speakers often hedge their opinions, especially when the topic is sensitive or when they want to avoid sounding dogmatic.

These hedges allow a French speaker to express a strong view while leaving room for the listener to disagree. They are extremely common in academic and professional discussion.

Putting it together: an opinion paragraph

Here is a longer passage showing how the structures combine in extended opinion-giving:

Note the moves: à mon avis frames the opening; je trouve que + indicative for an asserted evaluation; je ne pense pas que + subjunctive (soient) for the negated belief; cela dit, je dois reconnaître que hedges into a concession. This is what fluent opinion-giving looks like.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

French opinion-giving runs on two parallel systems. Prepositional phrases — à mon avis, selon moi, d'après moi, pour moi — frame the sentence as your view without affecting the mood of the following clause. Verbal expressions — je pense que, je crois que, je trouve que — take the indicative when affirmed but the subjunctive when negated or questioned, a polarity-driven mood shift that has no English equivalent. Tentative impressions go in il me semble que and j'ai l'impression que; strong assertions in je suis sûr que and je suis convaincu que. Disagreement uses je ne suis pas d'accord, au contraire, and the unique si that contradicts a negative question. Hedges like je dirais que, disons que, and je ne voudrais pas généraliser let you assert without sounding dogmatic. The single highest-leverage skill in this domain is the indicative-to-subjunctive shift after negated belief verbs — drill it until it becomes automatic.