Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Nós pensamos em ir ao restaurante. - We are thinking of going to the restaurant.

When you talk about thinking of or about doing an action, the verb pensar (to think) must be followed by the preposition em. In your current lesson, you saw that querer (to want) connects directly to an action word, like querer ir (to want to go). However, pensar needs that extra link first: pensamos em ir (we think of going).

Why does the translation say 'are thinking' when pensamos is the simple present tense?

In Portuguese, the simple present tense is very flexible. It can mean both a general fact like 'we think' and an ongoing action right at this moment like 'we are thinking'. You usually do not need a special structure to say what you are doing right now in European Portuguese.

Where does the word ao come from?

The word ao is a required contraction of the preposition a (to) and the masculine word for 'the', which is o. Because restaurante is a masculine noun, saying 'to the restaurant' always combines into ao restaurante.

Can I leave out the word Nós?

Yes! The verb ending tells us exactly who is doing the action. Because pensamos is only ever used for 'we', you can simply drop the pronoun and say Pensamos em ir ao restaurante. It sounds very natural to native speakers.