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### Stating Beliefs

When you express what you believe or think is true, you are declaring a fact from your perspective. Because you are stating your reality, verbs like **creer** (to believe) and **pensar** (to think) followed by **que** take the **indicative** mood.

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### Expressing Skepticism

However, when you add **no** in front of these verbs, everything changes. Saying that you *don't* believe or *don't* think something introduces doubt and skepticism. Because you are questioning whether a claim is true, **no creer que** and **no pensar que** trigger the **subjunctive** mood.

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### A Direct Comparison

Notice how simply adding **no** to the beginning of the sentence shifts the second verb from declaring a fact (indicative) to expressing doubt (subjunctive):

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When asking a question with affirmative verbs of belief, you generally stick to the indicative, since you are simply asking the other person to state their reality:

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Indicative vs. subjunctive for beliefs (creer que / no creer que)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

expression

interjection

noun

numeral

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (yo soy)

Noun gender and definite articles (el, la)

Basic sentences and negation (no)

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Formal and informal you (tú vs. usted)

Plural pronouns and the verb to be (somos, son)

Making nouns plural (-s, -es)

Plural articles (los, las, unos, unas)

Noun gender exceptions

Adjective agreement

Invariable adjectives

State and location (estar)

Ser vs. estar

There is / there are (hay)

Hay vs. estar

To have (tener)

Possession (de)

Possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su)

Regular -ar verbs

Yes/No questions

What and who (qué, quién)

Regular -er verbs

Regular -ir verbs

Asking where (dónde, adónde)

How, when, and why (cómo, cuándo, por qué)

How much and how many (cuánto)

Days of the week

Going to a place (ir a)

Preposition contractions (al, del)

In and by (en)

With me and with you (conmigo, contigo)

Prepositional pronouns (mí, ti)

Conjunctions (y, o, pero)

Giving reasons (porque)

Stem-changing verbs (e to ie)

Stem-changing verbs (o to ue)

Stem-changing verbs (e to i)

Irregular yo forms (hago, salgo)

To know (saber vs. conocer)

Weather expressions (hace, está)

Desires and plans (querer)

Ability and requests (poder)

Obligations (tener que)

Expressing likes (me gusta)

Plural likes (me gustan)

Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)

Very vs. a lot (muy, mucho)

Numbers 0 to 15 (cero, uno, dos…)

Numbers 16 to 31 (dieciséis, veinte…)

Numbers 30 to 1000 (treinta, cien, mil)

Months of the year (enero, febrero, marzo)

Seasons and dates (el dos de mayo)

Telling time (es la..., son las...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero, segundo, tercero)

Reflexive pronouns and verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

The present continuous (estar + -ando, -iendo)

Near demonstrative adjectives (este, esta, estos, estas)

Medium demonstrative adjectives (ese, esa, esos, esas)

Comparatives of inequality (más / menos ... que)

Comparatives of equality (tan ... como)

Indefinite and negative pronouns (algo, nada, alguien, nadie)

Affirmative commands

Far demonstratives (aquel, aquella)

Possessive pronouns (el mío, el tuyo)

Shortened indefinite adjectives (algún, ningún)

Adverbs of quantity (demasiado, bastante)

Adverbs of frequency (a menudo, a veces)

Adverb formation (-mente)

Exclamations (¡Qué...!)

Irregular comparatives (mejor, peor, mayor, menor)

Relative superlatives (el más... de)

Adjective intensification (-ísimo)

Indirect object pronouns

Pronoun placement with infinitives

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

The 'se lo' rule (se lo, se la)

Impersonal statements (se)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Personal obligation (deber)

Starting actions (empezar a)

Finishing and quitting actions (terminar de, dejar de)

Repeating actions (volver a)

Continuing actions (seguir + gerundio)

Question	Answer
the politician	el político
to exaggerate	exagerar
the debate	el debate
I believe the politician exaggerates in the debate.	Creo que el político exagera en el debate.
the argument	el argumento
to convince	convencer
I don't believe the argument convinces the politician.	No creo que el argumento convenza al político.
the evidence (certainty, obviousness)	la evidencia
true (real, authentic)	verdadero
We don't think the evidence is true.	No pensamos que la evidencia sea verdadera.
the opinion	la opinión
I think your opinion is interesting.	Pienso que tu opinión es interesante.
the conclusion	la conclusión
I believe the conclusion of the debate is clear.	Creo que la conclusión del debate es clara.
I don't believe the conclusion is logical.	No creo que la conclusión sea lógica.
The politician didn't win because he didn't use the evidence.	El político no ganó porque no usó la evidencia.
I think you are going to convince the audience with that argument.	Pienso que vas a convencer al público con ese argumento.
I don't think my friend is right.	No pienso que mi amigo tenga razón.
I don't believe you are exaggerating, because you are very right.	No creo que exageres, porque tienes mucha razón.
Do you believe the argument is valid?	¿Crees que el argumento es válido?
We think that the debate ended very badly.	Pensamos que el debate terminó muy mal.
obvious	obvio
I do not believe that his opinion is obvious.	Yo no creo que su opinión sea obvia.
I think that the true argument is obvious.	Pienso que el argumento verdadero es obvio.
real (genuine)	real
I believe the problem is real.	Creo que el problema es real.
I don't believe that love is real.	No creo que ese amor sea real.
to consider	considerar
I consider it a good idea.	Considero que es una buena idea.
She is considering the idea of traveling.	Ella considera la idea de viajar.