Creerse versus Pensar

Question

Creer is to believe. I believe in science. Yo creo en la ciencia.

Creerse (reflexive or pronominal) means something like to think you are a big shot or the opposite.

Yo me creo linda. I think I'm pretty Tú te crees inteligente. You think you are intelligent. El se cree un artista de cine. Nosotros nos creemos muy educados.

Ella se cree tonta. Tiene muy baja auto-estima.

Ellos se creen inútiles. etc.

Pensar is not reflexive or pronominal and has nothing to do with thinking one is a big shot or abolutely the opposite.

Yo pienso en mi novia. Tú piensas que todos son buenos. Ellos piensan en hacer el bien.

By the way, as you may see, the preposition after PENSAR is EN in Spanish.

Thank you for the clarification. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 8, 2017

Muchas gracias, amigo. :) - rac1, Apr 8, 2017

Según su perfil, Polenta sería una amiga. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 8, 2017

Ja Ja si soy mujer y tuve que entrar como Polenta1 porque estoy usando mi computadora y no la tablet. Jaja - polenta1, Apr 9, 2017

Answer 1

As Polenta noted, Pensar is usually followed by en, even when in English we would use of or about.

I am thinking of you. I am thinking about you. Pienso en ti. or Estoy pensando en ti.

However, it can be followed by an infinitive without a preposition. In this case it can be translated as plan to + English verb:

No pienso viajar este año.
I don't plan to travel this year.

It can be followed by "de" when you are asking someones opinion about something:

¿Qué pensaste de la película?
What did you think about the movie?

It can be followed by con, for example:
Piensa con tu cabeza, no con tu corazón.

Answer 2

I remember the preposition after pensar from listening to Luz Casal singing 'Piensa en mi'

Piensa en mi Luz Casal