The English verb to know can be expressed with two different verbs in German: 1. kennen The verb kennen expresses that you are familiar with a person or place. Kennst du die neuen Nachbarn? Kennen Sie die Stadt Bitburg? 2. wissen The verb wissen expresses knowledge of a fact. It often introduces a subordinate clause starting with wer, was, wo, wann, warum, wie etc. Entschuldigung. Wissen Sie, wo der Bahnhof ist? Mein Großvater weiß viel über Geschichte. Note that kennen is conjugated as regular verbs but wissen shows irregularities:
* In the present tense you would normally add the ending -st but the s isn't added if the stem ends in an s-like sound i.e. ß, s or z.
In English the verb to know can be used in the context of knowing a language. German expresses this with the verb können (to can) instead: Do you know French? = Kannst du Französisch? Note that in some cases, modal verbs don't have to be followed by a second verb in its basic form.
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October 2017
CategoriesCopyright 2017 Stephanie Mauro
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