Featured article photo: Québec City, Québec by Jeffrey Eisen (Unsplash License)
Both connaître and savoir means 'to know', but only connaître is followed by a noun. Before we explore some examples, let's review the conjugations for connaître in the present tense:
- je connais
- tu connais
- il/elle connaît
- nous connaissons
- vous connaissez
- ils/elles connaissent
Examples of using connaître followed by a noun (or nouns):
-
Connaissez-vous les projets qui ont été approuvés par le directeur général?
= Do you know the projects which were approved by the managing director? - Je ne connais pas la réponse à cette question.
= I do not know the answer to this question.
Now, let's review the conjugations for savoir in the present tense:
- je sais
- tu sais
- il/elle sait
- nous savons
- vous savez
- ils/elles savent
Savoir can be used in three ways:
1. Savoir is used in expressions like je sais 'I know', tu sais 'you know'.
- Daniel va visiter la Belgique l'année prochaine.
= Daniel will visit Belgium next year.
Ah, je sais, il m'a dit ça hier.
= Yeah, I know, he told me that yesterday.
2. Savoir is followed by a verb
Il sait écouter ses parents.
= He knows how to listen to his parents.
- Nora sait être direct, tu peux lui demander des conseils.
= Nora knows how to be straight forward, you can ask her for some advice.
3. Savoir is followed by que 'that'
- Nous savons que cette décision n'était pas juste.
= We know that this decision is not right. -
Savez-vous que vous pouvez suivre les dernières nouvelles de ce site web?
= Do you know that you can follow the latest news from this website?
So, connaître and savoir are not interchangeable.
