believe
To believe something is to think that it’s true or possible.
- Tom believes his son is telling the truth.
- Shelia believes her friend, Renee, is honest.
- Some people believe in ghosts.
- I believed that Santa Claus was real when I was a child.
- What do you believe?
I believe you. / I believe in you.
What’s the difference?
a. believe = to think that something is true or possible
People believe each other, or they don’t.
- I believe Vanessa when she says she didn’t steal the money.
- It’s hard to believe Edgar. He lies all the time.
- Do you believe the President when he says he didn’t commit that crime?
- Nobody believes what he’s saying.
- I don’t believe him.
- We believe that Wendy is telling the truth.
- We believe her.
Some people believe in things that are important to them. In these sentence, “believe” is used for religion, philosophy, or cultural.
- I believe climate change is a serious threat to our planet.
- What do you believe? What do you believe in?
- Fred believes in a high power. He believes in God. (Notice the preposition “in” after “believe.” This changes the meaning of the verb.)
- Some people believes in odd conspiracy theories.
- It’s not a good idea to believe in something without learning more about it.
- I believe in my students and their abilities to learn English. (It’s possible to believe in a person when it comes to potential.)
- Sam believes he has some very good friends.
- The teacher doesn’t believe this student is doing his own work.
- I believe in your ability to improve your English skills.
- I believe in you.
- I have faith in you.
- I have confidence in you.
- You can do it!
b. belief (noun) = faith
The word “belief” is a noun. A belief is a thought that a person thinks is true. This noun can be used for philosophy, religion, concepts, or
- People have strong beliefs.
- Many people around the world have strong religious beliefs, or they have a belief in something that is much larger than themselves.
- They have a belief in God or some other deity. (deity =a god)
- Do you have any strong beliefs?
- I have a belief in the goodness of human beings, but I recognize that some people are not good.
- The President said something that left the people around him in disbelief. (The people couldn’t believe he said something because it was so crazy. disbelief = the inability to believe)
- Americans have strong beliefs in freedom and equality.
- People have strong beliefs.
- Do you have a strong belief in anything?
- She has a strong belief in God.
c. believable (adjective) = possible
The word “believable” is an adjective that you can use with people or things:
- His story is not believable.
- She’s a very believable witness.
- I didn’t think the movie was very believable.
- This is unbelievable. (This can have many different meanings. It might refer to a positive or a negative situation.)
- He told a story that was not very believable.
- He’s not a very believable person.
d. expressions that use "believe"
People use “believe” of some form of this word when they express anger happiness, sadness, or frustration.
- I can’t believe it! We won the lottery! (happy)
- I can’t believe you are doing this! (angry)
- It’s going to take an hour to get through this line. I don’t believe it! (frustrated)
- That is unbelievable. (This could be said for a good or bad situation.)
- It’s hard to believe how lucky they are. (surprise)
- “I can’t believe how lucky I am.” (She’s very happy.)
- “I can’t believe this is happening!” (She’s very angry.)