Pensar Spanish Conjugation: Learn it with chunks and never forget it again!

The verb “pensar” (to think) is a very commonly used verb in Spanish.

The verb “pensar” in Spanish means to reflect, consider, or have an opinion about something. It is the equivalent of the English “to think”.

I’m Paulísima, your Spanish teacher, and today we are going to explore how pensar Spanish conjugation works, using very practical examples.

1. Yo pienso, Tú piensas (I think, you think)

Actor 2
¿Qué haces, amiga? Te veo muy distraída. ¿Estás pensando en la inmortalidad del cangrejo?
(What are you doing, girlfriend? You seem to be quite distracted. Are you daydreaming? (lit.: “thinking about the immortality of the crab”?)

Actor 1
No, ahora no. Estoy pensando en cómo decorar mi nuevo depa ¿Qué piensas sobre poner plantas dentro de la habitación principal?
(No, not now. I’m thinking about how to decorate my new apartment. What do you think about putting plants in the master bedroom?)

Actor 2
Mmm… no sé. Yo, en lo personal, pienso que es mal feng shui.
(Mmm… I don’t know. I, personally, think that it’s bad feng shui.)

Actor 1
¿A poco piensas que eso del feng shui es verdad?
(Do you really think that feng shui is real?)

Actor 2
¡Claro que sí! Por eso pienso que es mejor que simplemente pongas un jarrón de flores frescas.
(Of course! That’s why I think that it is better to simply put a vase with fresh flowers.)

Some things to consider from this dialogue: Pensar en. When we want to say that we are “thinking about something” we use pensar EN.

We also use a very funny phrase that is used in many Spanish-speaking countries to refer to “daydreaming”.

• Pensar en la inmortalidad del cangrejo (To think about the immortality of the crab).

Stay until the end because I have more useful phrases with the verb “pensar” for you.

Notice how in this case, to ask for an opinion about something, we say:

• ¿qué piensas sobre? (What do you think about?)

We can also say:

• ¿Qué piensas de…? (What do you think of…?)

To conjugate in the first person, we say “pienso“.

Yo pienso que deberías decirme algo: (I think you should tell me something:)

• ¿Qué piensas de Spring Spanish? (What do you think of Spring Spanish?)

You love it! So don’t hesitate to subscribe to Spring Spanish right now.

2. Él / Ella Piensa (He/She thinks)

Actor 1
¿Has hablado con Laura últimamente?
(Have you talked to Laura lately?)

Actor 2
Sí, la vi ayer. ¿Y sabes qué? Platiqué con ella. Me dijo que piensa organizarte una fiesta de cumpleaños. Piensa que podríamos alquilar un salón y contratar un DJ para la música.
(Yes, I saw her yesterday. And you know what? I talked to her. She told me she is thinking about organizing you a birthday party. She thinks we could rent a venue and hire a DJ for the music.)

Actor 1
¿En serio? Qué linda. ¡Me encanta la idea! ¿Tú qué piensas? ¿No te parece que es demasiado?
(Really? How nice of her. I love the idea! What do you think? Don’t you think it’s too much?)

Actor 2
No, para nada. Amiga, cumples 30. Es muy importante celebrar a lo grande.
(No, not at all. Girlfriend, you’re turning 30. It’s so important to celebrate big time.)

Actor 1
Bueno… le voy a decir a mi novio a ver qué piensa.
(Well.. I’ll ask my boyfriend what he thinks.)

Actor 2
¿Cómo que qué piensa tu novio? Obvio le va a encantar la idea.
(What do you mean what your boyfriend thinks? He obviously is going to love the idea.)

3. Nosotros pensamos (We think)

To conjugate the verb “pensar” with the pronoun “nosotros“, we say: pensamos.

• Los mexicanos siempre pensamos mucho en nuestra familia. Siempre que salimos de viaje, les llevamos por lo menos un detallito. (Mexicans always think a lot about our family. Whenever we go on a trip, we bring them at least a little something.)

By the way, “un detalle” is a small gift, like a souvenir.

More examples:

• En Spring Spanish, siempre pensamos en cómo podemos ayudarte a aprender español de la forma más eficiente y productiva. (At Spring Spanish, we always think about how we can help you learn Spanish in the most efficient and productive way.)
• En mi familia, cuando planeamos nuestras vacaciones, pensamos en destinos históricos y emocionantes, pero también en el presupuesto. (In my family, when we plan our vacations, we think about historical and exciting destinations, but also about the budget.)

4. Ustedes Piensan / Ellos Piensan

¿Qué piensan de nuestros nuevos videos cien por ciento en español? Ellos piensan que están muy bien, pero díganme ustedes qué piensan. (What do they think of our new 100 percent Spanish-language videos? They think they’re great, but let me know what you think.)

Notice how the conjugation for ustedes and ellos is the same: piensan.

5. Pensar Spanish conjugation table

After all of this, let’s take a look at pensar Spanish conjugation in a table!

6. Useful Phrases with pensar

Now let’s see the phrases I promised you:

• Pensándolo bien (On second thought)
• ¡Ni pensarlo! (No way!)
• Pensar mal (Think badly)

But it’s better to see them in a dialogue:

Actor 1
¿Sabes qué? Pénsandolo bien… tienes razón en lo del feng shui de mi habitación. No voy a poner una planta, voy a poner flores frescas mejor.
(You know what? On second thought… you’re right about the feng shui of my room. I’m not going to put a plant, I’ll put fresh flowers instead.)

Actor 2
¡Excelente idea, amiga! ¿Cómo ves si pones dos jarrones grises de cada lado de la cama?
(Great idea, girlfriend! How about if you put 2 gray vases on each side of the bed?)

Actor 1
¿¡Grises!? ¡Ni pensarlo! Mejor rojos. Ya leí algunos artículos sobre feng shui y dice que el rojo es mejor para atraer lo que más quiero.
(Gray?! No way! Better red. I’ve read some articles about feng shui and it says red is better for attracting what I want most.)

Actor 2
¡Uhhhh!

Actor 1
¡No! ¡No pienses mal! ¡Me refiero a dinero!
(No! Don’t think wrong! I mean money!)

How about that? If you want to keep learning the most important verbs in Spanish, check out our new list with the fifty most important verbs in Spanish.