penser and croir (ii)?

Question

(1) Alors, j'ai cru que c'était de la blague.
(2) Alors, j'ai pensé que c'était de la blague.

What's the difference?

Answer 1

We often translate the French croire as "think" in English, althrough it still has the sense of believing. E.g. "Is X coming to the office today?" - answer, "Je crois que oui," which in Eng. we'd normally translate as "I think so", meaning "I believe so."

So, if the Eng "think" has a sense of believing rather than just thinking about something or someone, it's usually safe to use croire.

Answer 2

as a French native speaker, I use both with a very slight difference in meaning but so slight that you wouldn't bother to know it.

That being said, there is a regional and social difference:
1 - when you say alors j'ai cru/pensé que c'était de la blague, I immediately understand that you are a lower /middle class suburban guy
2- if you say j'ai cru/pensé que c'était UNE blague, then I can't tell anything about your background. Besides this is proper french

additional note :
Croire with an E.

Answer 3

croir is to believe and penser is to think.
so j'ai cru means I believed and j'ai pensè means I thought.
thats the difference

Answer 4

The difference lies in the words "cru" and "pense" of course.

In the first phrase (1):
you just BELIEVED that the joke was TRUE/REAL or you just assumed that it probably was a joke

while in the second statement (2):
you just THOUGHT that is was a joke; it was just an OPINION.

Answer 5

Penser is to think. Croir is to know.