Learn Spanish (Latin America): No pienso que mi amigo tenga razón.

No pienso que mi amigo tenga razón.

I don't think my friend is right.

Breakdown of No pienso que mi amigo tenga razón.

Questions & Answers about No pienso que mi amigo tenga razón.

Why is the verb tenga instead of tiene?

The sentence starts with no pienso que, which expresses doubt or a negative opinion. This triggers the subjunctive mood for the second verb, turning tiene into tenga. If the sentence were affirmative, like 'I think my friend is right', you would use the normal indicative mood: Pienso que mi amigo tiene razón.

Why do we use a form of tener to say someone is 'right'?

In Spanish, being right is expressed with the phrase tener razón (literally, 'to have reason'). While in English you use the verb 'to be' (he is right), Spanish uses the verb tener (he has reason).

In English we often drop the word 'that' and just say 'I don't think my friend is right.' Can we drop que in Spanish?

No, Spanish never drops the connecting word que. When you have two conjugated verbs with different subjects (like pienso for 'I' and tenga for 'my friend'), you must always use que to link the two halves of the sentence together.

Could I say No creo que instead of No pienso que?

Yes, they are completely interchangeable here. No creo que mi amigo tenga razón means exactly the same thing. Both no pensar que and no creer que act as negative opinions and require the subjunctive in the second part of the sentence.