Hi there,can someone help me please. I have big problems expressing "to think" in Turkish as I never know whether to use sanmak. bence,etc...

I was trying to say to my neighbour " I almost had a heart attack because I thought the dog escaped " (he didn.t actually he was just hiding in the bushes)....

ben kalp krizi yaklaşık geçirmiştim çünkü köpeğimi kaçtı düşündüm

I would really appreciate if someone could correct and explain.

Many thanks in advance

" I almost had a heart attack because I thought the dog escaped "

Neredeyse kalp krizi geçirecektim, köpeğin kaçtığını zannettim.

(i didnt translated "because", using a comma is better here. )

I think... Bence, düşünüyorum ki, benim düşünceme göre... (Literally: Düşünüyorum)

I thought...  Düşündüm ki, zannettim ki, sandım ki... (Literally: Düşündüm)

Bence: In my opinion

Thank you so much for this explanation ikicihan,I think the biggest problem English speakers have is trying to translate directly from English,Turkish is a much more logical language

"ben kalp krizi yaklaşık geçirmiştim çünkü köpeğimi kaçtı düşündüm"

can also be corrected as:

"neredeyse kalp krizi geçirecektim, çünkü köpeğimi kaçtı sandım"

sanmak = to assume /to think of something mistakenly

Thanks very much for taking the time and trouble to explain.