Stress pronouns with à

Question

Why is "He's thinking of her" - Il pense à elle instead of Il lui pense?If someone were to ask the question "Pense-il a Marie?" Would the answer be "Oui, il lui pense."

Accepted Answer

Hi Ismail,
There are some verbs that behave differently when followed by the prepositions à and de when referring to people.
I can't find a specific rule pertaining to this but here are some examples-
Parler à quelqu'un = to speak/to talk to someone 
----> Je leur parle = I speak to them
But 
Parler de quelqu'un = to talk about someone
----> Je parle d'elle = I am talking about her 
Penser à quelqu'un = to think of someone
----> je pense à elles = I am thinking of them 
Rêver de quelqu'un = to dream of someone
-----> J'ai rêvé de lui hier soir = I dreamt about him last night
Other verbs include songer à quelqu'un, faire attention à quelqu'un, not many but enough to cause confusion.
Hope this helps!

Answer

No, you can’t say je te pense. It is always je pense à toi. The inverted question is also pense-t-il à elle?Is there a rule for that? I don’t know. I’ve never come across one.