An Overview of savoir and connaître
French has two words for the English verb "know": savoir and connaître. To choose the appropriate one, pay attention to the word that follows. Savoir means "to know a fact", while connaître means to know a person or to be familiar with a person, place or thing.
For the most part, savoir is followed by que, si or quand ("to know that, when, if ...") or comes at the end of a sentence, e.g.:
- Je sais qu'elle nous aidera.
- Je ne sais pas si ma soeur viendra.
- Quand est-ce qu'on va le savoir?
- Je le sais.
On the other hand, connaître is usually followed by a noun, e.g.:
- Je connais Marie
- Elle connaît la solution
- Quand est-ce qu'on va connaître les résultats?
Note that connaître can be used to mean "meet", e.g.: Je l'ai connu en France means "I met him in France"; note also that the verb savoir, can be used to indicate an ability, e.g.: Je sais conduire ("I know how to drive"). It can also be used to mean "find out about an event", e.g.:
- Je l'ai su hier ("I found out about it yesterday")
Finally, since the most recent spelling reform (1990), it is acceptable to write connaître with or without a circumflex accent (i.e.: connaitre).
A tip
One tip is that if you can replace the verb with "be certain", you should probably use savoir, e.g.:
- I am certain she will come = je sais qu'elle viendra
If replacing the verb with "be certain" makes the sentence sound weird, then connaître is likely correct, e.g.:
- I am certain your sister very well (sounds weird so ...)
- Je connais très bien ta soeur.
Practice: write a story about someone you know who is able to do many things, then check the story with BonPatron.com
Questions about savoir and connaître
Q: Why is it je connais ton frère and NOT je sais ton frère?
The verb connaître is used with before nouns. It means "be familiar with". Basically, if the next word is a determiner (le, la, mon, ma, etc.), then you should probably use connaître.
Q: Why is it nous savons qu'elle viendra and NOT nous connaissons qu'elle viendra?
Remember, if the following word is que, use savoir.
Q: Why is it Est-ce que tu sais où j'ai mis mes clefs? and NOT Est-ce que tu connais où j'ai mis mes clefs?
Since the question is about knowing a fact (where I put my keys), you should use savoir. In general, if the next word is que, qui, où, comment, quand or si, use savoir).
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