Интересно думать не только о будущем, но и о прошлом.

interesting

Breakdown of Интересно думать не только о будущем, но и о прошлом.

• не только: not only
• но и: but also
• о: about

Questions & Answers about Интересно думать не только о будущем, но и о прошлом.

Why does the sentence start with Интересно and not have a clear subject like “it”?

Russian often uses impersonal constructions where English uses “it”.

• Интересно думать... literally: “(It is) interesting to think...”
• There is no word for “it”; интересно works like “it is interesting” by itself.
• This is very common with words like интересно, трудно, легко, приятно, скучно
  • infinitive.

So Интересно думать... = “It is interesting to think...” without an explicit subject.

Why is it думать and not думаю?

• Думать is the infinitive (“to think”).

• In impersonal sentences like this, Russian typically uses an infinitive after the predicate:

  • Интересно читать. – It’s interesting to read.
  • Трудно понять. – It’s hard to understand.
• If you said Я думаю, that means “I think” (I am thinking), which is a different idea.
• Интересно думать focuses on the activity in general (“thinking is interesting”), not “I am thinking” right now.

Can I say Мне интересно думать не только о будущем...? What’s the difference?