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I saw the sentence like 'I believe in you.'while reading the book. I want to know the meaning of preposition 'in' in this sentence.

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  1. “I believe you” means I believe what you are telling me is the truth. I may not have any actual proof but I trust you. You might say this to someone who says they haven't committed a particular deed or act.

A: Did you break this vase?
B: No, mom. It was the dog, he knocked it over by accident.
A: Okaay, I believe you.

  1. “I believe in you” means I have faith in your abilities, I will support your ambitions and dreams.

to believe in something is a phrasal verb, there is no reason as to why it is the preposition ‘in’, and not for example, ‘of’, but the phrasal verb acts like a single meaning, and perhaps that is a good enough reason.

Common beliefs with ‘I believe in’ are: Santa Claus, ghosts, magic, ‘love’, science, God, or any deity, etc.

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    I agree with most of this explanation, but I think that to believe in ghosts would not mean to have faith in the abilities of ghosts; it can (and usually would) mean just to believe that ghosts exist. So it seems to me that there are two separate meanings for "believe in" (only one of which makes sense in the case of "believe in you").
    – Andreas Blass
    Aug 20, 2016 at 1:30
  • @AndreasBlass the links, even the saccharine YouTube link, actually make the difference between the two very clear. But you're absolutely right, I should have mentioned that the second expression means to be convinced (believe) that something or someone exists.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Aug 20, 2016 at 20:54
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In usually represents some kind of "state"

I've fallen in love with her.

I believe in God.

He is in a deep sleep.

She is in a bad shame.

In the movie The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne says "I believe in Harvey Dent," which implies he accepts and trust the vision of Harvey Dent of sweeping out all criminals out of Gotham City.

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In the context of a relationship, to believe in someone means I believe in your dreams, your ideals, your decisions to be the right ones for us as a couple. On the other hand to say "you never believed in me" is saying to the other person you never put faith in me to do what's right for us as a couple. It can be very hurtful.

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"I believe in you" = "In you I believe."

"In" is a preposition here, and not part of a phrasal verb "to believe in."

Here, "in" means "pertaining to the object's virtues."

"We Trust in God" = "In God We Trust" This is not an example of yet another putative phrasal verb such as "to trust in."

There's a tendency to claim that prepositions the meanings of which are difficult to fathom must simply be part of the preceding verb as a "phrasal verb." I think those analyses are generally superficial.

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    ""In" means "pertaining to the object's virtues"" seems like a stretch: how did you come to that conclusion? And can you explain why 'in' is not part of the phrasal verb here, as another answer claims?
    – Joachim
    Sep 27, 2022 at 16:58
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    >And can you explain why 'in' is not part of the phrasal verb here, as another answer claims? Sure. The other answer was an easy claim based on not being able to figure out what "in" could possibly mean as a simple preposition. That's not a robust reason for asserting it's part of a putative phrasal verb. By those lights, "trust in," "given in," "told in," or indeed, any verb followed by "in," could be called a phrasal verb.
    – economic freedom
    Sep 27, 2022 at 21:20
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    >how did you come to that conclusion? By attending to the meaning of the sentence. "Virtue" means "powers and capabilities," which is what the sentence means. "In God We Trust" means "We Trust In God," which is similar in meaning so far as the verb's relation to "in" is concerned and identical in construction to "We believe in you." In both sentences, "in" is nothing but a common, garden-variety preposition.
    – economic freedom
    Sep 27, 2022 at 21:25

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