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Je pense à Marie.

Je pense à Marie.
I think about Marie.
FromLesson 17inHardcore French
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Breakdown of Je pense à Marie.

je
I
Marie
Marie
penser à
to think about
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“How does grammatical gender work in French?”
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine, and this affects the articles and adjectives used with it. "Le" is used with masculine nouns and "la" with feminine ones. Adjectives also change form to match — for example, "petit" (masc.) becomes "petite" (fem.).

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Questions & Answers about Je pense à Marie.

Why is there a preposition à after penser in this sentence?

In French, when penser means to think about someone or something, it always takes the preposition à. The pattern is:

• penser à quelqu’un / quelque chose
• Je pense à Marie. (I’m thinking about Marie.)

Without à, the sentence would be ungrammatical or mean something else entirely.

Why isn’t there any article before Marie?

Proper names of people normally stand without an article in French. You simply say Marie, not la Marie, unless you’re distinguishing her from another Marie in a very special context. So:

• Correct: Je pense à Marie.
• Incorrect: Je pense à la Marie.

How would I replace Marie with a pronoun?

After a preposition like à, you use a disjunctive (stressed) pronoun, not the direct‐object pronoun. So:

• Je pense à Marie. → Je pense à elle.

You cannot say Je la pense because penser à demands elle (not la).

What’s the difference between penser à and penser que?

They’re two distinct constructions:

• penser à + noun → to think about someone/something (mental focus).
– Je pense à mes vacances.
• penser que + clause → to think that / to believe (opinion or conviction).
– Je pense que c’est une bonne idée.

Mixing them up will change your meaning.

How is penser à different from penser de?

• penser à + noun = to think about (focus or consideration).
• penser de + noun = to have an opinion of or about something, often used in questions:
– Que penses-tu de ce film ? (What do you think of this movie?)
– J’ai une bonne opinion de ce film.

Remember: use à for thinking about; use de for asking or stating an opinion.

How do I make the sentence negative?

Wrap the verb pense with ne…pas:

• Je ne pense pas à Marie.

In casual spoken French you often drop the ne:

• Je pense pas à Marie.

How can I turn “Je pense à Marie” into a question?

There are three common ways:

  1. Intonation (spoken):
    • Tu penses à Marie ?
  2. Est-ce que:
    • Est-ce que tu penses à Marie ?
  3. Inversion (more formal):
    • Penses-tu à Marie ?

All three mean Are you thinking about Marie? and are perfectly acceptable in different registers.

How do I pronounce “Je pense à Marie,” and is there a liaison?

• je → [ʒə]
• pense → [pɑ̃s]
• à → [a]

Because à begins with a vowel, a liaison is common in careful speech:
• pense-à → [pɑ̃s‿za]

So in connected speech you often hear:
• [ʒə pɑ̃s‿za maʁi]
But in very casual talk you might skip the liaison:
• [ʒə pɑ̃s a maʁi]