Savoir vs connaître
The short answer
Savoir is for facts, information and skills: things you could state or do. Connaître is for acquaintance with people, places and works, and it must always be followed by a noun. If what follows is que, si, où, comment or an infinitive, the verb is savoir every time.
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At a glance
Savoir or Connaître?
| Compare | SavoirFacts, clauses and skills. | ConnaîtreFamiliarity with a person, place or thing. |
|---|---|---|
| What can follow it | que, si, où, pourquoi, an infinitive, or a fact | A noun, and only a noun |
| People | Only in je sais qui c’est | Je connais Marie |
| Places | Only as information: je sais où c’est | Je connais Lyon |
| Skills | Je sais nager, je sais conduire | Not used |
| Can it stand alone? | Yes: je sais. | No: je connais on its own is incomplete |
| In the passé composé | J’ai su: I found out | J’ai connu: I met, or I once knew |
How to choose
Ask these, in order
- 1
Is the next word que, si, où, quand, pourquoi or comment?
Savoir. Connaître cannot take a clause at all.
Je sais que le magasin ferme à sept heures.
I know the shop closes at seven.
- 2
Is an infinitive coming next?
Savoir. This is how French says “know how to”, with no extra word for “how”.
Elle sait conduire depuis l’âge de dix-huit ans.
She’s known how to drive since she was eighteen.
- 3
Is it a person, a city, a book, a film or a piece of music?
Connaître. Familiarity through experience rather than information.
Tu connais ce quartier ?
Do you know this area?
- 4
Could you say it aloud as a piece of information?
Savoir. If the answer is a fact you could recite, it is savoir even when a noun follows.
Je sais son numéro par cœur.
I know his number by heart.
NBCompare je connais son numéro, which suggests recognising it rather than being able to produce it.
Side by side
Each one, in full
When to use savoir
Facts, clauses and skills.
Savoir handles information. Anything you could state, answer or recite belongs to it, which is why it is the verb that takes clauses: que, si, où, pourquoi, and the only one of the two that can stand alone as a complete answer: je sais.
It also covers learned skills. Je sais nager, je sais taper vite: French makes no distinction between knowing a fact and knowing how to do something, and adds no word corresponding to the English “how”. Saying je sais comment nager is a direct translation that no French speaker would use.
Tu sais s’il vient ce soir ?
Do you know whether he’s coming tonight?
Je ne sais pas encore.
I don’t know yet.
NBA complete sentence. Je ne connais pas is not, on its own.
Il sait jouer du piano.
He can play the piano.
NBSavoir for a learned skill; pouvoir would mean he is free to play right now.
When to use connaître
Familiarity with a person, place or thing.
Connaître is acquaintance built by exposure. People, cities, neighbourhoods, restaurants, books, songs, films: things you have encountered rather than facts you could state. It always takes a direct object, so it cannot end a sentence.
It also covers a softer, experience-based knowing of abstract things. Il connaît bien la question means he has genuine familiarity with the subject, in a way that il sait la question would not: that would suggest he can recite it.
Je connais un très bon restaurant près d’ici.
I know a really good restaurant near here.
Vous vous connaissez ?
Do you two know each other?
Elle connaît bien le droit du travail.
She knows employment law well.
NBFamiliarity from working in it, rather than facts recited.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
Je connais qu’il est parti.
Je sais qu’il est parti.
Connaître cannot take a clause. The moment que, si, où or comment appears, the verb has to be savoir. This is the most reliable single signal of the pair.
Je sais Paris.
Je connais Paris.
A place you have been to is familiarity, so connaître. Je sais où est Paris is fine, because that turns it into information, and it now has a clause, which confirms the switch.
Je sais comment nager.
Je sais nager.
French puts the infinitive straight after savoir with nothing between. Adding comment is a word-for-word translation of “know how to” and is one of the clearest markers of an English speaker.
Quand j’ai vu sa tête, je savais tout de suite.
Quand j’ai vu sa tête, j’ai su tout de suite.
In the passé composé savoir means “found out” rather than “knew”. Tout de suite marks a moment, so the compound tense is required. Connaître shifts the same way: j’ai connu ma femme à Lyon means I met her there.
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Questions
Asked and answered
- Which one do I use for a language?
- Both work and they say different things. Je connais l’italien means you have some familiarity with it. Je sais parler italien claims you can actually speak it. In practice French speakers most often say je parle italien and sidestep the choice entirely.
- Is there a difference in the negative?
- Je ne sais pas is the everyday “I don’t know” and stands alone. Je ne connais pas needs an object, je ne connais pas cette chanson. If you want a bare “I don’t know him”, it is je ne le connais pas, with the pronoun supplying the object.
- Does Spanish work the same way with saber and conocer?
- Almost exactly, and if you have one language the other comes nearly free. Saber takes facts, clauses and infinitives; conocer takes people and places. The one difference worth noting is that Spanish marks a personal object with a, conozco a María, where French does not.