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Learn to Speak French Online:
French Grammar Guidebook

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To Know

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Connaître means to know someone, be familiar with a place or with some bit of news. It is conjugated as follows:

CONNAÎTRE—"to know, be familiar with"
 

je connais
tu connais
il, elle connaît
nous connaissons
vous connaissez
ils, elles connaissent

Command forms: connais!, connaissez!

Future stem: connaîtr-

Participle: connu

EXAMPLES
 

Connaissez-vous ce monsieur-là?
Do you know that man there?
Je ne connais pas très bien Paris.
I don't know Paris very well.

Connaître is used ONLY with direct objects—never with another verb or a phrase.

Another verb that is conjugated like connaître is reconnaître—"to recognize."

You now know two verbs that in English both mean "to know," but that have very different uses in French:

Connaître is used to refer to acquaintance (with a person, a city, factoids), whereas savoir refers to knowledge of facts and information, and to acquired skills.

Consider the following examples:
 

Monsieur Le Brun? Je ne le connais pas.
Mr. LeBrun? I don't know him.
Le Monde? Je ne connais pas ce journal.
Le Monde? I don't know that journal. (I'm not familiar with that journal.)
Le numéro de téléphone de M. LeBrun? Je ne le sais pas.
Mr. LeBrun's telephone number? I don't know it.
L'heure de son arrivée? Non, je ne sais pas quand il arrive.
His time of arrival? No, I don't know when he arrives.
Programmer? Non, je ne sais pas Programmer.
Program? No, I don't know how to program. 

This last example could also be translated as: I can't program. English does not necessarily distinguish between being able to perform a certain task because one has learned how to do it or because circumstances allow it.

Consider the following examples:
 

Je ne sais pas taper.
I can't type. (I haven't learned how)
Je ne peux pas taper votre lettre maintenant.
I cannot type your letter right now. (because I don't have time)
Peux-tu m'aider?
Can you help me? (Do you have time, inclination, opportunity to help me?)


Examples of To Know

  • Ah. Je ne le connais pas. En tout cas, ça commence à 21h00. Qui s'occupe des billets?
  • Sais-tu quand la première séance commence?
  • Peut-on acheter les billets d'avance?
  • Excusez-moi. Savez-vous où se trouve le bureau de poste?