Savoir vs. connaître: How to say “to know” in French

Two for the price of one — this is how you could think about savoir vs. connaître. After all, both of these French verbs mean “to know.” Yet, they are not interchangeable. Not only are they conjugated differently, but they also don’t appear with the same grammatical words and structures. 

Even as you begin learning French, you’ll find it useful to distinguish between savoir and connaître when expressing the act of knowing. With savoir, you can confirm that you know how to do something or that you know a fact. This always involves a verb to describe an action or a state of being. On the other hand, connaître is about knowing a person, an object or a place, all of which are designated by nouns. 

In this guide, we’ll explore how to use both verbs in more detail.

• How to conjugate “connaître” and “savoir”
• When to use “savoir” and “connaître”
• 13 expressions with “connaître” vs “savoir“

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How to conjugate “connaître” and “savoir”

The first step in differentiating connaître from savoir is to learn the forms each verb takes — at least for the three main French tenses. 

Contrary to regular verbs, such as –er verbs, savoir is an irregular verb that uses different stems to which the usual verb endings are then added. The table below contains a summary of the verb in the main tenses in the present, past and future. 

Simple Present		Passé composé		Simple Future
French	English	French	English	French	English
Je sais	I know	J’ai su	I knew	Je saurai	I will know
Tu sais	You know	Tu as su	You knew	Tu sauras	You will know
Il/elle/on sait	He/she/one knows	Il/elle/on a su	He/she/one knew	Il/elle/on saura	He/she/one will know
Nous savons	We know	Nous avons su	We knew	Nous saurons	We will know
Vous savez	You (plural/formal) know	Vous avez su	You (plural/formal) knew	Vous saurez	You (plural/formal) will know
Ils/elles savent	They know	Ils/elles ont su	They knew	Ils/elles sauront	They will know

In comparison, connaître is a regular verb and thus follows the same general pattern of –re verbs. Contrary to savoir, its future tense follows the standard formula of adding the endings to the infinitive form of the verb, after removing the final –e.

Present		Passé composé		Future
French	English	French	English	French	English
Je connais	I know	J’ai connu	I knew	Je connaîtrai	I will know
Tu connais	You know	Tu as connu	You knew	Tu connaîtras	You will know
Il/elle/on connaît	He/she/one knows	Il/elle/on a connu	He/she/one knew	Il/elle/on connaîtra	He/she/one will know
Nous connaissons	We know	Nous avons connu	We knew	Nous connaîtrons	We will know
Vous connaissez	You (plural/formal) know	Vous avez connu	You (plural/formal) knew	Vous connaîtrez	You (plural/formal) will know
Ils/elles connaissent	They know	Ils/elles ont connu	They knew	Ils/elles connaîtront	They will know

When to use “savoir” and “connaître”

Once you have learned the forms of both savoir and connaître, the next step is to understand when to use one or the other.

The uses of “savoir”

A very simple trick to know if you need to use savoir is to check if there is a verb that follows it. There are two main ways this may happen.

In the first case, the verb is in the infinitive form. You’ll need this structure if you want to say you know how to do something:

• Je sais parler français. (I know how to speak French.)

In this use case, the verb refers to practical knowledge. More specifically, it refers to when you’re capable of performing an action, whether it be in the context of sports, arts and crafts, driving or other activities that demand learning and practice. In English, this is often expressed by the auxiliary verb “can.” To take the previous example, another translation of the French sentence would be, “I can speak French.” 

In the second case, the verb is followed by a subordinate clause, which includes another conjugated verb. You can easily spot the subordinate clause, as it starts with the word que (that), si (if) or a question word such as pourquoi (why), où (where) or quand (when). The table below contains several examples: 

French	English
Je sais que tu as vu ce film.	I know that you’ve seen this film.
Tu ne sais pas si c’est vrai.	You don’t know if it’s true.
Il sait où il doit aller.	He knows where he must go.
Nous savons quand le train arrive.	We know when the train arrives.
Vous savez pourquoi elle est partie.	You know why she left.
Elles savent combien elles ont de temps.	They know how much time they have.

When used in the past tense, savoir takes the slightly different meaning of “found out” to refer to the moment a thing is learned:

• J’ai su qu’il était parti à Paris. (I found out he left for Paris.)

The uses of “connaître”

Connaître is used with a noun, be it a person, a place or an object. When in doubt, remember that savoir contains the letter “v” for verb, whereas connaître contains a double “n” for noun:

• Je connais bien Paris. (I know Paris well.)
• Tu connais Caroline. (You know Caroline.)
• Il connaît les conditions. (He knows the conditions.)

The verb connaître may take on a different meaning to express the idea of experiencing something:

• Cet acteur a connu la célébrité très tôt. (This actor experiences fame very early on.)

In the past tense, connnaître may mean “to meet,” to reflect the first time you got to know someone:

• Elle a connu son mari à l’université. (She met her husband at university.)

13 expressions with “connaître” vs. “savoir”

Connaître and savoir are two of the most frequently used verbs, including in a number of common expressions in French.

7 expressions with “savoir”

French	English
bien savoir Example: Vous savez bien que c’est interdit.	to know full well Example: You know full well this is forbidden.
croire tout savoir Example:  Il croit tout savoir sur la question.	to think one knows everything Example: He thinks he knows everything on the matter.
On ne sait jamais.	You never know.
Qui sait?	Who knows?
sans le savoir Example: Elle a fait une erreur sans le savoir.	without knowing it  Example: She made a mistake without knowing it.
Tu sais quoi?	You know what?
Va savoir.	Go figure.

6 expressions with “connaître”

French	English
connaître quelqu’un de nom Example: Je connais cet auteur seulement de nom.	to know somebody by name Example: I know this author only by name.
connaître par cœur	to know by heart
connaître ses limites	to know one’s limits
en connaître un rayon Example: J’ai travaillé dans un restaurant à Paris, alors j’en connais un rayon sur la cuisine française.	to know a lot about a topic Example: I worked in a restaurant in Paris, so I know a lot about French cuisine.
connaître la musique Example: Thomas s’énerve toujours pour un rien. Je connais la musique.	to know the score/to have heard it all before Example: Thomas always gets angry over nothing. I know the score.
connaître la chanson Example: Les clients changent toujours d’avis. Tu connais la chanson.	to know the score/to have heard it all before Example: Customers always change their minds. You’ve heard it all before.

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Spot the difference between “connaître” and “savoir”

While both verbs mean “to know,” they are used in different ways, with different structures and words. Put simply, savoir always involves a verb, whereas connaître needs a noun. When it comes to conjugation, savoir is also more irregular. But both are very common verbs and appear in various daily phrases. Understand these basic rules and you’ll be able to distinguish between savoir vs. connaître before you know it!

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