pense que versus croire que

Question

Both penser que and croire que are translated to "think that", although I think only croire que is ever translated to "believe that". A question in my recent (and final for the night) kwiz follows: Nicolas ______ Isabelle est intelligente. Nicolas thinks that Isabelle is clever.

I answered "croit que" and marked wrong. The correct answer was listed as "pense qu'" which led me to wonder: Would "croit qu'" have been correct as I think it should?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Don,
Penser = to think - Croire = to believe

Jack pense que ... = Jack thinks that...
Jack croit que ... = Jack believes that ...

Je crois que Dieu existe = I believe God exists -> strong belief 
Je pense que Dieu existe = I think God exists -> not so strong / milder belief

I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Yes, I think so.I've noticed this before - when there is more than one correct answer, if you get the answer wrong because of a typo, it only shows one of the correct answers, and it might not be the answer you were intending to give. I wonder if it would be better to always show all the correct answers, or to show the one that matches closest to your input.

Answer

I assume Céline's answer means that "croit qu'" would not have been accepted. I suppose that translating "penser" as "think" and "croire" as "believe" will be correct most of the time - and at our level we should perhaps just leave it at that - but it does seem to be more complicated. For example, the use of "croit" here might suggest that the speaker is not sure that Nicolas is right.

I note that someone has written an entire book about how to translate these words.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/%C3%89tude_crois%C3%A9e_de_think_believe_croire/t0elCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Answer

I’m sure Alan is right - in the English sentence "I believe my friend is right.", I feel one could substitute "think" with little difference in meaning: in fact, depending on context/intonation, "believe" could be more tentative than "think".