what do you think in spanish

Question

how do you say when you want to say what do you think?

Please use proper capitalization and punctuation in English. Thank you! - Jubilado, Nov 5, 2014

Answer 1

It is common that the english speakers translate the verb think as "pensar", and this is correct. But in Spain, the people say "creer" more often than "pensar", especially when they talk about themselves:

Example: I think that tomorrow will rain -->

Creo que mañana lloverá.

Pienso que mañána lloverá (It is ok but it sounds strange for a Spanish)

The only way to know how to choose one of both translation (both are correct) is acquired with the practice.

PD: The verb "creer" can also mean "believe"

Yo creo en Dios - I believe in God

Good to know. Gracias! - sara4ever, Nov 5, 2014

Thanks for this answer. I need to use "creer" more in my conversations! - Jubilado, Nov 5, 2014

Answer 2

¿Qué piensas? ( What are your thoughts on this)

¿Qué crees? (What do you think)

¿Como te parece? ( How does that seem to you?

There are many options.

**que** te parece. :) - chileno, Nov 5, 2014

Here in Mexico I think the "Qué te parece?" is most common for asking what someone thinks - gringojrf, Nov 5, 2014

Thanks, I think both are ok. - annierats, Nov 5, 2014

Answer 3

In my many textbooks from which I teach college Spanish, "What do you think about______?" is translated by the expression "¿Qué piensas de___________?

¿Qué piensas de la economía norteamericana? The answer would be: Pienso que_____________________. and your answer follows.

OK?

You are right, it is more common ask with "pensar" and answer with "creer". But i repeat, answer with "pensar" is correct but for me sounds strange - txustaboy, Nov 5, 2014

Go with creer, Daniea, it has little to do weith religion, normally. - annierats, Nov 5, 2014

Creo que.. - annierats, Nov 5, 2014

As I said before I have been totally Mexicanized, but even Mexicans use Creer more, However in the current lesson I'm teaching dealing with the verb Pensar, my brain got stuck on Pensar. Asi es la cotton picking vida, que no? - Daniela2041, Nov 5, 2014

Me gusta mucho "la cotton picking vida" ja, ja, ja! - Jubilado, Nov 6, 2014

I am quite fluent in Spanglish or espangles. Aqui en California muchos hablamos asi. Pero no quiero que mis estudiantes oigan de eso. - Daniela2041, Nov 6, 2014

I don´t like spanglish so much. It sounds really bad XDDD - txustaboy, Nov 6, 2014

But it is fun!!! - Daniela2041, Nov 7, 2014

Answer 4

Pensar = to think, although can have a different meaning.

If you're asking for someone's opinion I guess you could say, ¿ qué/cuál es tu/su opinión ?

If you're asking someone what they believe, you could use creer, ¿ qué crees/cree ?

I think ¿ qué piensas/piensa ? might have more of the sense of 'penny for your thoughts' as opposed to asking for an opinion on a particular subject.

Pensar can be used to refer to planning, e.g. pienso hacerlo = I plan to do it.

But I might be wrong.

Answer 5

I found this blog post from Transparent Language on asking questions in Spanish very helpful:

http://blogs.transparent.com/spanish/asking-questions-in-spanish/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=languageblog&utm_content=spanish