"Ela pensa no menu."
Translation:She thinks of the menu.
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They didn't have "of" as an option. Here in the USA we would say that She thinks about the menu.
I wrote "She thinks over the menu," as though she were considering what to order from it. It was marked incorrect, and I understand that Duolingo is not built to encompass every possible translation. However, could a native Portuguese speaker please let me know if this is a correct understanding of the statement's meaning?
I put 'She thinks on the menu' taking 'no' to mean 'in/on/at' The answer was 'She thinks of the menu'. Where does 'of' come into it? How are you supposed to know to use 'of'? Prepositions has been the hardest and most frustrating section so far :-(
I believe the verb is pensar em so the em is fixed into the verb but doesn't actually mean in.
Prepositions usually don't translate consistently between languages. Its a common problem. Just as you remember in English the differences between taking care of looking after and being responsible for - I think we just have to memorize that in Portuguese penso and toco use em... | (Surprisingly, in some Semitic languages like Hebrew and Arabic, you also think or ponder in a topic, rather than about it. personally, it helps me remember this, but I don't suppose that would help most learners here in Duo...).
I believe that "no" is a contraction of "em" +"o". The hints don't say this so the phrase does not make sense with the definitions given. You can's say "She thinks on menu" or "She thinks about menu".
no = of? She thinks of menu again- why not give this translation then? instead of others that you are not suppose to use...
Correctly. Em + o (a) = no (a)
But you never use separated. In this case is No/na means "of the" or "about the"
No can mean four different things according to the Webster dictionary: no,na contraction of em+o,a can mean: in the, on the, at the, into the. Of that menu would make sense when she had a very good meal somewhere and now she thinks about that menu. Of the is not an option. Even in the case i outlined to think about the would be better!
"Ela pensa sobre o menu" is also right, but you can't use two prepositions together (em + sobre)
Ok, that should make it easier, but what about the rule that em must generally always follow pensa?
You can use pensar with em, sobre and de. =)
"pensar de" is used to talk about opinions:
O que você pensa disso? = What do you think about it?