you think what

English

Alternative forms

  • think what

Etymology

A colloquial interpretation of the phrase what do you think? with reorganized syntax, demonstrating optional wh-fronting in Singlish. Analogous to certain sentence structures in Chinese, e.g., Hokkien 汝儂咧講什物？ / 汝侬咧讲什物？ (lír-lâng leh kóng sím-mih?, “what are you all talking about?”), in which the interrogative word 什物 (sím-mih, “what”) remains where it is and does not move to the front of the sentence.[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Singapore) IPA(key): /juː ˈθɪŋk ˈwʌt/, [ju˨ ˈtɪŋ˦ ˈwät˦˧]

Phrase

you think what

  1. (Singapore, Singlish, interrogative, rhetorical, sarcastic) What do you think this is?; do you think this is some kind of […] ?; said in response to an impractical or naïve suggestion.
    — Can book a whole ballroom anot?
    — You think what? Got all the money in the world ah, hah?
    • 2011, James Khoo, directed by James Khoo, Hentak Kaki‎[1] (short film), spoken by 2WO Lee Teck Hong (Michael Hadrievic Chua):
      CMPB looking for something better and more kilat for me, you think what, they put somebody like me here as a counsellor?

References

  1. ^ Tan, R.; Shen, Z. (2025), “True wh-movement and wh-in-situ in one language: Evidence from Colloquial Singapore English.”, in Journal of Linguistics, volume 61, number 4, →DOI, pages 865–888
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