考える
ka-n-ga-e-ru
The verb that turns things over in your head
The picture Something is set on the workbench of the mind and turned this way and that until the sides line up. 考える turns the picture over in the mind; 思う lets it sit exactly as it surfaced.
Where the picture shows up in 考える
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Asking for room to turn it
少し考えさせてください。
sukoshi kangaesasete kudasai
Let me think about it for a moment.
The answer is held back, the eyes drop, as if slowly rotating an object on the palm.
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Turning it once more
値段をもう一度考えてみます。
nedan o mō ichi-do kangaete mi-masu
I'll think about the price again.
A finger taps the written figure and the eye comes back at it from another angle.
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Turning until a shape appears
新しいやり方を考えました。
atarashii yari-kata o kangae-mashita
I came up with a new way of doing it.
A piece is rotated a few times in the mind until it drops into the slot it fits.
考える reaches as far as working something out and inventing it.
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Turning the weights on a scale
家族のことを考えて決めました。
kazoku no koto o kangaete kime-mashita
I decided with my family in mind.
Family faces on one pan, conditions on the other, the balance tipped back and forth until it rests.
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Turning it without stopping
昨日は考えすぎて眠れませんでした。
kinō wa kangae-sugite nemure-masen deshita
I overthought things last night and couldn't sleep.
Eyes on the ceiling while the same scene goes around and around in the head.
All of it in one picture
考える is one picture: you set something down in your head and turn it. Ask for a moment to turn it and you are asking for time; turn the price once more and you are reconsidering; keep turning until a new shape appears and you have invented a method; put your family on the scale and turn it until it settles and you are weighing things; turn it all night without stopping and you cannot sleep. In every one of these a hand is on the picture turning it, and wherever that hand stops is what comes out as the answer.