French guides · Verb tables + audio
Penser: à and de are not the same thought.
Penser means “to think”, and it conjugates without a single surprise. Everything difficult about it is in the two small words that can follow. Je pense à toi means you are on my mind. Qu’est-ce que tu penses de lui ? asks for a verdict. Swap them and you have asked something you did not mean.
Présent — regular throughout
Stem pens- plus the standard -er endings. As always, four of the six forms are one sound.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je pense | I think | |
| tu penses | you think | |
| il / elle pense | he / she thinks | |
| nous pensons | we think | |
| vous pensez | you think | |
| ils / elles pensent | they think |
Penser à, penser de, penser que
Three constructions, three jobs. The middle one is the one that goes wrong, because it only ever appears in questions.
| French | Means | |
|---|---|---|
| je pense à toi | I’m thinking of you | on your mind |
| j’y pense | I’m thinking about it | à + thing → y |
| qu’est-ce que tu penses de ce film ? | what do you think of that film? | asking an opinion |
| j’en pense du bien | I think well of it | de + thing → en |
| je pense que c’est bien | I think it’s good | stating an opinion |
Penser de is used almost exclusively to ask for an opinion. To give one, French switches to penser que. So the answer to qu’est-ce que tu penses de ce film ? is je pense que c’est bien — not je pense de…, which nobody says.
À plus a thing becomes y; de plus a thing becomes en. But à plus a person keeps the stressed pronoun: je pense à elle, never “je lui pense”. Penser is one of a small group of verbs that behave this way.
Passé composé — pensé
Regular, with avoir: j’ai pensé. Often used for the moment a thought arrived: j’ai pensé à toi, “I thought of you”.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’ai pensé | I thought / have thought | |
| tu as pensé | you thought / have thought | |
| il / elle a pensé | he / she thought / have thought | |
| nous avons pensé | we thought / have thought | |
| vous avez pensé | you thought / have thought | |
| ils / elles ont pensé | they thought / have thought |
Imparfait — the thinking that lasted
Je pensais — and very common as a soft correction: je pensais que…, “I thought that…”, meaning you now know otherwise.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je pensais | I thought / used to think | |
| tu pensais | you thought / used to think | |
| il / elle pensait | he / she thought / used to think | |
| nous pensions | we thought / used to think | |
| vous pensiez | you thought / used to think | |
| ils / elles pensaient | they thought / used to think |
Futur and conditionnel
Full infinitive as stem: je penserai.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je penserai | I will think | |
| tu penseras | you will think | |
| il / elle pensera | he / she will think | |
| nous penserons | we will think | |
| vous penserez | you will think | |
| ils / elles penseront | they will think |
Conditionnel — would think
Je penserais. Also a gentle way to disagree: je penserais plutôt que…
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je penserais | I would think | |
| tu penserais | you would think | |
| il / elle penserait | he / she would think | |
| nous penserions | we would think | |
| vous penseriez | you would think | |
| ils / elles penseraient | they would think |
Subjonctif — and when it is triggered
Penser que in the affirmative takes the indicative — je pense qu’il vient. Made negative or interrogative it expresses doubt and can trigger the subjunctive in the following clause: je ne pense pas qu’il vienne. This is one of the most commonly tested subjunctive triggers in French exams.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| je pense | (that) I think | |
| tu penses | (that) you think | |
| il / elle pense | (that) he / she think | |
| nous pensions | (that) we think | |
| vous pensiez | (that) you think | |
| ils / elles pensent | (that) they think |
Impératif — think about it
Pense ! with no s. With the pronoun: penses-y — “think about it” — where the s returns for pronunciation before y.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| pense ! | think! (to one person you know) | |
| pensons ! | let’s think! | |
| pensez ! | think! (formal, or to a group) |
Plus-que-parfait — had thought
J’avais pensé.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| j’avais pensé | I had thought | |
| tu avais pensé | you had thought | |
| il / elle avait pensé | he / she had thought | |
| nous avions pensé | we had thought | |
| vous aviez pensé | you had thought | |
| ils / elles avaient pensé | they had thought |
Hear it, then say it
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Quick answers
Penser, answered.
The questions that come up while you are learning the table.