I think therefore I am

Penser - to think.


je             pense
tu             penses
il/elles      pense
nous         pensons
vous         pensez
ils/elles    pensent


The verb penser is a regular "er" verb. I think, you think, etc, etc.

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin.

Frenchman August Rodin sculpted The Thinker in 1902 out of bronze and marble. The statue has become a symbol for philosophy and depicts a man in deep thought, battling with an internal struggle. The statue was originally intended to be Dante in the front of the gates of hell, as described in his epic poem The Divine Comedy. The Thinker is now in the Musee Rodin in Paris, more information at Musee Rodin.


It was French philosopher and writer Rene Descartes who said I think therefore I am, or as he originally put it "je pense donc je suis" (present tense first person of penser and etre,) in the early 1600s. Descartes is a very important figure in the field of philosophy and was also an influential mathematician. He is credited with the introduction of analytic geometry, which then led on to the discovery of calculus.