{"id":13834,"date":"2022-03-23T13:53:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T13:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13834"},"modified":"2022-03-07T13:54:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T13:54:19","slug":"the-difference-between-wissen-kennen-in-german","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-difference-between-wissen-kennen-in-german\/","title":{"rendered":"The Difference Between Wissen & Kennen In German"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! As requested by a blog reader, today\u2019s post is going to look at the difference between two verbs that are very similar, but different: wissen (to know) and kennen (to know)<\/strong>! Why are there two verbs for \u2018to know\u2019 in German, instead of one? Can they be used interchangeably, or are there distinct rules for each? Let\u2019s clear up the confusion surrounding the verbs wissen<\/em> and kennen!<\/em><\/p>\n

Wissen and kennen: present tense conjugations<\/h2>\n

I always like to include the present tense conjugations when dealing with specific verbs, so you can get a feel for how they look, first and foremost:<\/p>\n

Wissen: To know<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ich wei\u00df \u2013 I know
\nDu wei\u00dft \u2013 You know (informal)
\nEr\/sie\/es wei\u00df \u2013 He\/she\/it knows
\nWir wissen \u2013 We know
\nIhr wisst \u2013 You know (plural)
\nSie wissen \u2013 You know (formal)
\nsie wissen \u2013 They know<\/p>\n

Kennen: To know<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ich kenne \u2013 I know
\nDu kennst \u2013 You know
\nEr\/sie\/es kennt \u2013 He\/she\/it knows
\nWir kennen \u2013 We know
\nIhr kennt \u2013 You know (plural)
\nSie kennen \u2013 You know (formal)
\nsie kennen \u2013 They know<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the difference?<\/h2>\n

This is one case where two German verbs with the same meaning are used very differently to one another.<\/p>\n

Wissen<\/h3>\n
\"wissen\"

Photo by Siora Photography<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Simply put, the verb wissen<\/strong><\/em> is used when dealing with knowledge and facts.<\/strong> It is used in conjunction with question words such as wo<\/strong> (where), wann<\/strong> (when), wie<\/strong> (how) and was<\/strong> (what). Here are some examples of the verb wissen<\/em> in action:<\/p>\n

Wei\u00dft du, wo meine Brille ist?<\/strong>
\nDo you know where my glasses are?<\/p>\n

Ich wei\u00df nicht, was ich sagen soll.<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know what I am supposed to say.<\/p>\n

Wisst ihr eigentlich, wie schwer das ist?<\/strong>
\nDo you know how difficult this is?<\/p>\n

An easy way to remember this might be that the German word for knowledge<\/em><\/strong> is das Wissen! <\/strong><\/p>\n

There is also a Sprichwort<\/em> (saying) in German: ‘Was ich nicht wei\u00df, macht mich nicht hei\u00df’<\/strong> (\u2018What I don\u2019t know can\u2019t hurt me\u2019- literally, ‘What I don’t know won’t make me hot’!).<\/p>\n

Wissen = knowledge; facts<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kennen<\/h3>\n
\"wissen\"

Photo by Tyler Nix<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Kennen, on the other hand, deals with familiarity.<\/strong> If you were talking about knowing someone or something, as opposed to a piece of information, you would use the verb kennen.<\/em><\/strong> It is sometimes translated as \u2018to be acquainted with\u2019. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n

Kennt ihr dieses Lied?<\/strong>
\nDo you know this song?<\/p>\n

Er kennt Maria schon seit Jahren!<\/strong>
\nHe\u2019s known Maria for years!<\/p>\n

Ich kenne niemanden.<\/strong>
\nI don’t know anyone.<\/p>\n

Kennen = familiarity; someone\/something<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wissen and kennen: Incorrect use<\/h2>\n

So far, we\u2019ve learnt that there are very distinct ways of using wissen and kennen, despite them having the same meaning. To illustrate this point further, here is one incorrect<\/em><\/strong> use of each:<\/p>\n

X<\/span> Wei\u00dft du Ludwig?<\/strong>
\nDo you know Ludwig?<\/p>\n

Why? Because Ludwig is a person, and the question is about familiarity rather than knowledge, you would use the verb \u2018kennen\u2019 in this situation, instead of wissen (\u2018Kennst du Ludwig?\u2019<\/span><\/em>).<\/p>\n

Here is another one:<\/p>\n

X<\/span> Ich kenne nicht, was ich sagen soll.<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know what to say.<\/p>\n

Why? Because there is a question word in this sentence (was:<\/strong> what<\/em>) and it\u2019s dealing with knowledge rather than familiarity, you would use the verb \u2018wissen\u2019 in this situation, instead of kennen (\u2018Ich wei\u00df nicht, was ich sagen soll\u2019<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"wissen\"

Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

I hope this has helped clear up any confusion surrounding the verbs wissen and kennen. To finish, test yourself! Which verb fits into each of these sentences?<\/p>\n

Ich ________ nicht, was du sagst.<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n

_______ du diesen Film?<\/strong>
\nDo you know this film?<\/p>\n

Er ______, wo er hingehen soll.<\/strong>
\nHe knows where he is supposed to go.<\/p>\n

Wir _______ diese Frau nicht.<\/strong>
\nWe don\u2019t know this woman.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

If you liked this post, you might also like this one:\u00a0The Difference Between Machen And Tun In German<\/a><\/p>\n

Bis bald (see you soon)!<\/em><\/strong>
\nConstanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"wissen\"

Guten Tag! As requested by a blog reader, today\u2019s post is going to look at the difference between two verbs that are very similar, but different: wissen (to know) and kennen (to know)! Why are there two verbs for \u2018to know\u2019 in German, instead of one? Can they be used interchangeably, or are there distinct…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":13854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2031,551855,238339,11191,95131,11193,376023,166,11192],"class_list":["post-13834","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-comprehension","tag-difference-between","tag-different-meanings","tag-german-to-know","tag-german-language","tag-kennen","tag-language","tag-verbs","tag-wissen"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13834"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13900,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834\/revisions\/13900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}