To know in French 🇫🇷

connaître info.

To remember the French word “connaître,” it might help to think of it as relating to being “acquainted with” or having “knowledge of” someone or something, as the “con-” prefix often relates to being with or together, and “naître” means to be born, so think of it as coming to know as if you were introduced to it at birth.

Connaître is an infinitive verb in French that means “to know” in the sense of being familiar with people, places, or things. It is different from “savoir,” which is used for knowing facts or how to do something.

Here are other words or expressions that mean the same thing or share a similar concept:
– Savoir (to know facts or how to do something)
– Être familier avec (to be familiar with)

Connaître is a regular -re verb, so its conjugation follows a common pattern in French. Below are some of the basic conjugations for “connaître”:

**Present tense:**
– Je connais (I know/am familiar with)
– Tu connais (You [singular, informal] know/are familiar with)
– Il/Elle connaît (He/She knows/is familiar with)
– Nous connaissons (We know/are familiar with)
– Vous connaissez (You [plural or formal] know/are familiar with)
– Ils/Elles connaissent (They [masculine/feminine] know/are familiar with)

**Imperfect (to talk about something one used to know):**
– Je connaissais
– Tu connaissais
– Il/Elle connaissait
– Nous connaissions
– Vous connaissiez
– Ils/Elles connaissaient

**Future simple (to express something one will know):**
– Je connaîtrai
– Tu connaîtras
– Il/Elle connaîtra
– Nous connaîtrons
– Vous connaîtrez
– Ils/Elles connaîtront

**Past participle (used with être to compose past tenses like passé composé):**
– Connu

Here are some example sentences using “connaître”:

– Je connais bien Paris. (I know Paris well.)
– Tu connaîtras la vérité demain. (You will know the truth tomorrow.)
– Nous avons connu des jours meilleurs. (We have known better days. – Passé composé)
– Elle connaissait le chemin par cœur. (She knew the way by heart. – Imperfect)
– Ils connaîtront le succès avec leur nouveau projet. (They will know success with their new project. – Future simple)

Do note that “connaître” has an irregular past participle, “connu,” which is used to form compound tenses such as the passé composé for past actions that are completed.

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