Convinced I'm a cat with 思い込む
Vocabulary Explanation: Words ending in 込む
Chii tries to hypnotize her mother using a coin on a string. When Chii gets sleepy instead, her mother suggests Chii’s hypnotized herself instead. As Chii lies down on the sofa for a nap, her mother gives the hypnotic suggestion that Chii will become a cat.
When Chii wakes later, she finds her father is home from work. But when he sees her, he asks why there’s a cat on the sofa.
- ちー:
- 「猫だと思われている…」
- “He thinks I'm a cat...”
- Literal: “I am thought to be a cat...”
- “He thinks I'm a cat...”
- ちー:
- 「と思い込んでいる！」
- “He's completely convinced of it!”
- Literal: “He's convinced of it!”
- “He's completely convinced of it!”
Key Points
1思い込む = “to be convinced”
- 思う means “think”. 思い込む reflects a thought that has become conviction.
- Chii believes her father has accepted the idea that she is a cat. The stronger verb conveys the certainty she assigns to him.
2The second bubble continues from the first
- In と思い込んでいる, the opening と points back to 猫だ from Chii’s first thought. Read it as 猫だと思い込んでいる, “He’s convinced I’m a cat.”
3Chii changes the grammatical viewpoint
- Chii first frames herself as the person her father mistakes for a cat: 私はお父さんに猫だと思われている.
- She then frames her father as the believer: お父さんは私が猫だと思い込んでいる.
4〜ている marks her father’s settled belief
- Chii uses 思い込んでいる for her father’s present state after accepting an idea as true.
See Also
- Grammar: Receptive verbs with 〜れる
- Grammar: Ongoing actions and resulting states with 〜ている
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