pensar conjugation

pensar — to think. Pienso.

Present indicative

The everyday present: what you do, what's true, what's going on.

The ie only shows up where the stress hits the stem: PIEN-so, but pen-SA-mos. That's the whole trick, and it's the same one querer plays (quiero, queremos). With vos there's no change at all: vos pensás.

Preterite

The past for things that happened and finished: "I went", "she said".

Regular. The stress moved to the ending, so no ie. Pensamos is both "we think" and "we thought": the rest of the sentence tells you which.

Imperfect

The past for how things were or used to be: "I was going", "we used to live".

Pensaba que… is how you say "I thought that…" when you were wrong: pensaba que era viernes (I thought it was Friday).

Future, conditional and subjunctive

"Will" and "would", plus the subjunctive: the form Spanish uses after wishes, doubts and "if" (espero que…, si fuera…).

The present subjunctive keeps the boot: piense, pienses, piensen, but pensemos. You'll hear it after no: no pienso que sea fácil (I don't think it's easy).

Gerund and past participle

The "-ing" form (estoy hablando, I'm talking) and the one that goes with haber (he hablado, I've talked).

Imperative

Commands: telling someone to do something, or not to.

The one you'll actually hear: piénsalo (think about it), with lo stuck on the end and an accent to keep the stress where it was. With vos it's pensá.

What pensar does

For a plain opinion, Spanish speakers say creo que (I think, I believe) more often than pienso que. Both are right.

• Looking a word up once doesn't mean you'll remember it. The verb you look up today is gone by tomorrow. The one that keeps showing up in stuff you'd read anyway, right when you're about to forget it, is the one that sticks.
• No streaks, no guilt. Kin tracks one number: how many words you've got in reach today. It drops when you take a break and comes back when you do.

Questions