Je pense à ma femme

Question

If you want to say "I think about my wife". ChatGPT suggests I say "Je pense à elle", instead of "Je lui pense".

It says "Je lui pense" can be grammaticaly correct but it's too formal, old or used in literary.

However, this lesson says nothing about this. Can anyone explain this?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Jonas,
In French, "Je lui pense" is not correct and sounds off to any French Native speakers. So, in this case, ChatGPT is not right (it's a great tool but it's not always correct ; donc, prenez ce qu'il dit avec des pincettes ;-) ).
As Maarten pointed out, "penser à" is followed by a stress pronoun (not an indirect object pronoun). The links mentioned in his response are great reference.
Je pense à ma femme -> Je pense à elle
-> stress pronoun (also called disjunctive pronoun)
Je parle à ma femme -> Je lui parle
-> indirect object pronoun
 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Maarten Kamp · Answer

Jonas,

The lesson linked is about the adverbial pronoun ‘ y ‘, not indirect object or stress pronouns.

See the first two links for discussion of ‘ advanced indirect objects ‘ and usage of stress pronouns in prepositional phrases after the verb.

The 2nd link includes a list of verbs/verb forms that do not ‘ allow ‘ their indirect objects to be replaced by an indirect object pronoun.

“Penser à “ is one of these. It will be penser à (stress pronoun) instead, as per ‘ pense à elle ‘ as in your post.

Attached also, links to previous discussions on this site.

Moi/toi/lui/elle/soi/nous/vous/eux/elles - advanced usages (French Stress Pronouns)

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/indirect-objects-2/

Moi/toi/lui/elle/soi/nous/vous/eux/elles - advanced usages (French Stress Pronouns)