To know in Italian (sapere vs conoscere): Italian grammar lesson 20

How to say “to know” in Italian?

Did you know in Italian, there are two ways to say “to know”?

This might sound confusing, but once you understand when we use one or the other, it’ll be much easier for you.

Before we tell you what these two verbs are, let’s first focus on the meaning of “to know” in English.

In common English usage, the verb “to know” covers the concept of “knowing” in all its forms:

• To know a person;
• To know a trivial fact;
• To know about something in-depth;
• To be aware of to have a perception of something.

As you can see, the verb “to know” in English has different meanings that could be separated.

You can understand now why there might be two different verbs in Italian that mean “to know”.

In Italian, we can either say conoscere or sapere.

There’s a difference between them, like there’s a difference between the different meanings of the English verb “to know”.

Both sapere and conoscere mean to know

Why is there just one verb in English when there are two verbs in Italian to say “to know”?

This is for historical reasons: the Old English knowen came to dominate over the Latin sapere or cognoscere. That’s why we now just say “to know”.

However, some English words derive from those Latin words. Think of the words “cognition”, “sage,” and “sapient.”.

In Italy, those Latin counterparts prevailed and defined the world of knowledge in two main ways. We now say conoscere and sapere.

Even though conoscere and sapere share meanings and are also sometimes interchangeable, they took on different uses that are important to know.

So, what’s the difference between sapere and conoscere?

Let’s find out!

What’s the difference between sapere and conoscere?

Both Italian verbs sapere and conoscere can be translated into English with the verb “to know”, but their meaning of “knowing” has different implications.

Sapere means to know something, whereas conoscere means to know someone.

Let’s get into more detail!

Sapere: to know

Sapere (which is an irregular verb), means “to know” in the sense of:

• Knowing about a fact or a situation
• Being able to do something (sapere + infinitive)

While in English, we can just say “I know” without specifying what we know, in Italian, we have to express what we know, and therefore, we might say “lo so” (“I know it”).

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This is why, unlike the English verb “to know”, the Italian verb sapere is always used with a direct object (like lo in the previous sentence).

A direct object could also be introduced by the word che. This is when we want to introduce a whole new sentence.

In English, we sometimes use “that”, as in “so che mi vuoi bene” (“I know that you love me.”)

Conoscere: to know

Conoscere (which is a regular verb), on the other hand, means “to know” in the sense of:

• Knowing (being acquainted with) someone
• Meeting someone for the first time
• Knowing (being familiar with) an area, town, restaurant, etc.

Just so you know, in Italian, you cannot use sapere if you’re referring to a person!

Have a look at a sentence with both verbs where in English, you would use the same verb (“to know”):

To put it short, sapere is used to express knowledge, while conoscere is used to express familiarity.

Sapere vs conoscere: Italian conjugation

Let’s now look at the conjugation of the Italian verbs sapere and conoscere.

Sapere: conjugation

Here’s the conjugation of the Italian verb sapere:

• io so
• tu sai
• lui sa
• noi sappiamo
• voi sapete
• loro sanno

Conoscere: conjugation

Here’s the conjugation of the Italian verb conoscere:

• io conosco
• tu conosci
• lui conosce
• noi conosciamo
• voi conoscete
• loro conoscono

Let’s now look at examples of when to use sapere and when to use conoscere.

Examples with sapere

Remember saperemeans to be knowledgeable about something.

In other words, sapere is used to express knowledge about a fact or situation or awareness about a piece of information.

Let’s look at some sentences to see when it’s suitable to use the verb sapere:

Sapere is also used to express ability (= to be able to do something or know how to do something).

In this case, the structure is the following: sapere + verb in the infinitive.

Let’s have a look at some examples with that structure and use:

In an informal context, instead of answering with a full sentence:

You only need to say “Boh“!

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Examples with conoscere

Conoscere means to be familiar or acquainted with someone or something.

In the following examples, we’re going to see when we use conoscere specifically to talk about knowing a person or meeting someone for the first time:

We can also use conoscere to talk about a place we are familiar with, as in the sentences below:

To know in Italian: sapere and conoscere

In Italian, two verbs mean “to know”: conoscere and sapere.

Conoscere is used to describe knowledge of people, places, and things, while sapere is used to describe knowledge of facts and information.

In English, the verb “to know” is used to describe many different types of knowledge, but in Italian, the two verbs are used to differentiate between the types of knowledge.

For example, if you want to say, “I know a person,” you would use conoscere, but if you want to say, “I know a fact,” you would use sapere.

Knowing the difference between these two verbs is essential when speaking Italian, and it is important to practice them to become fluent.

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