All about Croire

Croire is one of the most common French verbs. It's irregular in conjugation and literally means "to believe," and is also used in many idiomatic expressions.

Croire usually means "to believe, think":

   Il ne me croit pas
   He doesn't believe me

   Je crois y avoir réussi
   I think I've succeeded


Croire que

Croire que, "to think/believe that," is followed by the indicative when it's affirmative, but the subjunctive when it's negative or interrogative:

   Je crois qu'elle va venir avec nous
   I think she's going to come with us

   Il ne croit pas que je puisse le faire
   He doesn't believe I can do it

   Crois-tu que nous ayons assez de temps ?
   Do you think we have enough time?


Croire à / en

Croire à and croire en both mean "to believe, have faith in":

   Les enfants croient toujours au Papa Noël
   The kids still believe in Santa Claus

   Je ne sais pas s'il croit en Dieu
   I don't know if he believes in God


Se croire

Se croire means "to believe/think oneself, to feel as if":

   Il se croit très malin
   He thinks he's really clever

   On se croirait en vacances
   You'd think we were on vacation, It feels like we're on vacation


Expressions with Croire


Conjugations

Present tense
   je crois
   tu crois
   il croit
   nous croyons
   vous croyez
   ils croient

Croire in all tenses