Breakdown of Je pense que la technologie dépasse notre intelligence.
je
I
notre
our (singular and plural forms: notre, nos)
penser
to think
que
that (introducing a clause)
la technologie
the technology
l'intelligence
the intelligence (f)
dépasser
to surpass
Questions & Answers about Je pense que la technologie dépasse notre intelligence.
Why doesn't Je pense que trigger the subjunctive here?
Verbs of opinion and belief, like penser and croire, take the indicative mood when they are in the affirmative. Even though you are stating an opinion, you are presenting it as a fact in your own mind. You generally only use the subjunctive with these verbs if the statement is negative (Je ne pense pas que...) or inverted as a question (Penses-tu que...?).
If I made this sentence negative, would the verb dépasse change?
Grammatically yes, but visibly no! Making it negative (Je ne pense pas que...) introduces doubt and triggers the subjunctive mood. However, for regular -er verbs like dépasser, the il/elle forms are identical in both the present indicative and present subjunctive. It would still be written and pronounced as dépasse.
Why is there a la before technologie when the English translation just says technology?
In French, definite articles (le, la, les) are required when talking about general concepts, categories, or abstract ideas. Since technology is being discussed in a broad, general sense here, you cannot leave the noun bare; it needs the la.
Does the verb dépasser only mean to surpass?
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