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