student asking question

What's "put yourself in the other person's shoes" mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

To "put oneself in [someone's] shoes" is an idiom that means to think about the situation from their perspective rather than your own. To metaphorically be in their position and think about it. This is often said to encourage sympathy. Ex: Put yourself in her shoes. How would she feel if you yelled at her? Ex: I put myself in Jim's shoes and saw the situation differently.

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