A2
saber and conocer
How Spanish divides saber and conocer, what each takes as an object, and how their meanings shift in the preterite.
English know covers both. Spanish keeps them apart, and the split is clean enough to learn in one sitting.
saber — facts, and how to do things
No sé dónde está.
not I-know where is
I don’t know where he is.
Sé nadar.
I-know to-swim
I can swim.
Saber plus an infinitive is how Spanish says know how to. There is no separate word for how.
conocer — people and places
Conozco a María.
I-know to María
I know María.
¿Conoces Madrid?
you-know Madrid
Do you know Madrid?
Note the a before a person and none before a city. That is the personal a, which Spanish puts before any human direct object.
Sé a María.
Conozco a María.
People are known by acquaintance, not as facts. Saber about a person only works with a clause behind it: sé que María es médica.
Both are irregular in the yo form only
Sé and conozco. Every other form is regular, and sé is worth noting for its accent — se without one is the reflexive pronoun.
In the preterite they change meaning
| sabía | I knew |
| supe | I found out |
| conocía | I knew (a person) |
| conocí | I met |
La conocí el año pasado.
her I-met the year past
I met her last year.
See which past tense.
poder is a third kind of can
Sé nadar is a skill. Puedo nadar means nothing is stopping me right now. English uses can for both.