Ajatella = “to think” (in general, consciously)
Luulla = “to think”, but with the meaning of believing something to be true (perhaps mistakenly)
Is it correct assumption?
That’s right.
The first is not really used for holding beliefs, like in english. The latter is, usually implying it’s misled.
You can also use “luulla” when stating what you yourself think, to indicate uncertainty.
Also when used in past tense as with “hän luuli” the meaning changes. It’s always a false belief. In the same way when talking about “I thought” in english, and how that always means that your thoughts have since changed.
You can also use “luulla” when stating what you yourself think, to indicate uncertanty.
That’s the most common way I use ‘luulla’. For example: “I think it’s going to rain soon” = “Luulen että kohta alkaa sataa” (or word-by-word translation “Luulen että alkaa sataa pian”).
Yeah, “Luulen niin” / “I think so” is what I was thinking as an exception.
I’d probably translate ‘luulla’ to English as ‘to suspect’ rather than ‘to think’, but that does depend a bit on the context. To use an example from other comments, ‘luulen että kohta sataa’ would be ’I suspect it’ll rain soon’.
