Dont needs a de?

Question

Am I right in thinking that if the sentence was “the girls I’m thinking about are amazing “…
…then I could have used the DONT? Thanks

How could you say "The girls I'm thinking of are amazing." ?

Les filles auxquels je pense sont géniales. Les filles à qui je pense sont géniales.Les filles à laquelle je pense sont géniales.Les filles dont je pense sont géniales.Les filles à quoi je pense sont géniales.Les filles auxquelles je pense sont géniales.

Chris Wirt · Accepted Answer

There are two ways to say "The girls I'm thinking about are great. (...about whom I am thinking...)":
Les filles auxquelles je pense sont géniales.Les filles à qui je pense sont géniales.
The relative pronoun dont is incorrect in this case, because it is penser à qqn and not penser de qqn in this context. Penser de qqn means something else:
Qu'est-ce que tu penses de ce film? -- What do you think of this film?

Mike Harrel · Answer

I agree with Nicolle. This explanation is very confusing to me. In English, reconstructing her sentence, it would be "The girls OF whom I am thinking--" not "The girls TO whom I am thinking" which is the construction you're giving us. So it seems "dont" would be correct. I know that it's not, but it makes no sense.

Mike Harrel · Answer

I agree with Nicolle. This explanation is very confusing to me. In English, reconstructing her sentence, it would be "The girls OF whom I am thinking--" not "The girls TO whom I am thinking" which is the construction you're giving us. So it seems "dont" would be correct. I know that it's not, but it makes no sense.

Chris Wirt · Answer

It only makes no sense if you try to translate prepositions in a one-to-one correspondence between English and French. The preposition à simply doesn’t just mean “to”. How would you explain, e.g., un café au lait, or je suis à Paris?

Qu’est-ce que tu penses de ce livre? means “what do you think about this book” i. Terms of asking an opinion.