Pienso/Creo

[Rach404]

Hola,
I was taught by my spanish teacher that both of these verbs mean "I think", and I was just wondering if there was any significant difference in them both, and whether you use them for different situations.
Gracias,
Rach

 

[Artrella]

Hola,
I was taught by my spanish teacher that both of these verbs mean "I think", and I was just wondering if there was any significant difference in them both, and whether you use them for different situations.
Gracias,
Rach

Hi Rach, there's no significant difference when you use both of them to give your opinionabout something.

Está Marisa en casa?
Creo que sí/ Pienso que sí

Qué piensas de Marisa? [ In this case I wouldn't use "crees" but maybe this is just me, so wait for some other forero's opinion]
Pienso/creo que es una buena persona.

Te gustó la película?
Si, creo/pienso que es la mejor obra de este director.


I hope this helps.

Then when you don't use it to give your opinion, they are different. But this is not what you asked, isn't it?

 

[sergio11]

I agree with Artrella. They can be used interchangeably only for introducing an opinion. Otherwise they are not the same.

 

[Reili]

Respecto a lo dicho por Artrella, aquí en México usamos con mucha mayor frecuencia "creo", y "pienso" se utiliza más cuando se expresan ideas respecto a algún tema como en el caso de una mesa redonda.

Cabe mencionar que también pueden usarse otros verbos con funciones similares supongo e imagino.

 

[Rach404]

Then when you don't use it to give your opinion, they are different. But this is not what you asked, isn't it?

So you are saying that they can be different???
Gracias,
Rach

 

[belén]

So you are saying that they can be different???
Gracias,
Rach

They can be different when "pensar" is used in the sense of thinking - as big minds do, think about how to end world hunger or when I think about my friends from high school, for example, and "creer" is used in the sense of believing.

Anyway, you can't confuse it:

Pienso que sí = Creo que sí
Pienso mucho en ti = I think about you a lot
Creo en ti = I believe in you

 

[Artrella]

So you are saying that they can be different???
Gracias,
Rach

Yes, Rach. Belén has replied to this question very well.

Pensar = to think

Creer = to believe

Creo en Dios ( I believe in God)

No te creo!! (I don't believe you)

He estado pensando en tí todo este tiempo (I've been thinking of you all this time)

Piensa cuidadosamente antes de responder a la pregunta ( Think carefully before answering the question)

Ella no creyó esa historia ridícula de su marido (She didn't believe that ridiculous story of her husband)

 

[Emily Rugburn]

Hi!
I've been doing some research about the meaning of both words and I was told that if you say:
Creo que Maria esta en casa - You are more certain about ''Maria being home'' than if you say:
Pienso que Maria esta en casa

I hope I was helpful

Salu2

 

[Philippa]

'Un idioma es un dialecto con un ejército detrás' (Napoléon, pienso)

Hi folks
In my signature I put 'Napoléon, pienso', probably because in English I would have said 'Napoleon, I think', but both alc112 and Ferry have PMed me to say that it should be 'Napoléon, creo'. Ferrán said that was what I should say if I wasn't sure if it was Napoleon or not. Really I'm not sure whether that means they think creo implies you're less or more certain than pienso or whether it's a stylistic thing.

Saludos
Philippa

P.S. I would have changed it to creo if I could, but the signature's too long for the new character limit.
I've copied it in this post, though, in case one day I do find another cool quote, in Spanish, that's short enough!!

 

[sergio11]

En el DRAE figuran las siguientes acepciones de estas palabras:

Pensar (Acepción Número 1). tr. Imaginar, considerar o discurrir.

Creer (Acepción Número 3). tr. Pensar, juzgar, sospechar algo o estar persuadido de ello.

Creer (Acepción Número 4). tr. Tener algo por verosímil o probable. U. t. c. prnl.

Imaginar (Acepción Número 2). tr. Presumir, sospechar. U. t. c. prnl.

Presumir (Acepción Número 1). tr. Sospechar, juzgar o conjeturar algo por tener indicios o señales para ello

Suponer (Acepción Número 4). tr. Conjeturar, calcular algo a través de los indicios que se poseen.

Parecerle a alguien algo (Acepción única). fr. Con un matiz de duda o indeterminación, opinar, creer.

Por lo que vemos, lo mejor sería decir "me parece..." Pero en la conversación habitual, para decir que algo nos parece de tal o cual forma, se pueden utilizar cualquiera de estas palabras, y nadie va a tener dificultad para entenderlo, ni te van a decir que está mal (me parece, supongo, presumo, creo, pienso y conjeturo que no, pero puedo estar equivocado).

 

[Henrik Larsson]

P.S. I would have changed it to creo if I could, but the signature's too long for the new character limit

In your signature, I'd write "CREO", it sounds better. I don't know how to explain it, but in that case, I think normally nobody would say "PIENSO".

 

[Lucía Sánchez Martínez]

En México se utilizan de manera indistinta, aunque para nosotros "creo", estaría más bien enfocado a "I believe", como una creencia, algo que nos es dado (como los dogmas religiosos), mientras que pienso "I think", es una idea propia.

En el habla normal no creo que haya problemas en su utilización, tal vez en la cuestión escrita habría que ser más precisos al utilizarlas.

Esto ocurre mucho en el español y uno de mis profesores de esta clase en la secundaria nos decía que por eso es un idioma difícil de aprender para los extranjeros, porque tiene muchas excepciones a sus propias reglas.

En fin, que por ahora no le veo mayor problema.