Sentence: I don't know what's on your mind.

[Infin1ty]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to know shoud it be: I don't know what's on your mind? Or I don't know what on your mind is? I'm not sure if the former sentence is grammatically correct but the later one sounds abit odd to me. So please tell me which one is right and commonly used.

Or alternatively, I could also say: "I don't know what you are thinking about?", right? (I'm sure 'I don't know what are you thinking about' is grammatically incorrect) Please also tell me: What's the difference between in you mind and on your mind if any. Many thanks.
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[Alan]

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Hi Infinity,

Definitely you should say: I don't know what's on your mind. This is: I do not know what is on your (possessive adjective) mind. 'In you mind' just isn't possible because 'you' is a pronoun and 'mind' is a noun and not a verb.

As you say, I don't know what you are thinking about means the same.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Infin1ty]

Thank you, Alan. Your useful message helps me out again. And also thank you for leaving me a voice message. :) As a fact, in you mind is a typo. I meant to say: What's the difference between in your mind and on your mind, if there's any difference between them. :wink:
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[Alan]

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Hi Infinity,

'In your mind' would probably be used by a psychiatrist! 'On your mind' is the more common expression.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Infin1ty]

Thanks again, Alan. :)
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Please feel free to correct me if you find any mistakes in my posts.

[Anna.ha]

By the way, it might be wrong if I am advised to use "in your mind" to express that something is permanent on your mind and you keep thinking about it all the time while "on your mind" is just an idea of yours about something and it does not last very long time.

Alan, can you shed some light if it's also a correct understanding?

It might also be wrong when I usually think that "I don't know what's on your mind" is grammatically incorrect since I think it should be "I don't know what on your mind is" as in the sense of "indirect".

[Alan]

Hi Anna,

'I don't know what's on your mind' is the expression you want. 'In your mind' would be more likely used as: I don't know what's going on in your mind.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice

[Anna.ha]

So it should be correct if I say: I don't know where's he while I think it should be I don't know where he is. What is the difference of the two, Alan?

Or "I don't know what's on your mind" is a fixed expression and we have to learn it by heart?

Thanks