Saber or conocer: the one question
Ask what kind of knowing it is. If it is something you could write down as a fact or do as a skill — the time, the answer, the way to the station, how to drive, that she is right — it is saber: sé la respuesta, sé conducir, sé que tiene razón. If it is someone or somewhere you have met or been, or a work you have read, seen or heard — your neighbour, Lisbon, that film — it is conocer: conozco a tu hermano, conozco Lisboa, conozco esa película. Facts and skills on one side, acquaintance on the other.
The grammar gives you a second clue. Saber takes que, a question word (dónde, cuándo, cómo, cuánto) or an infinitive — sé que, sé dónde, sé nadar. Conocer takes a plain noun as its direct object, with the personal a when that noun is a person — conozco a Ana, conozco el barrio. If the thing after the verb is a clause or a verb, it is saber; if it is a person, a place or a title, it is conocer. Every row of the chart below follows from that.
Every use, in one chart
Two rows deserve a second look. Saber un poema de memoria and conocer un poema are both correct and mean different things: the first is that you can recite it, the second that you have come across it. And conocer a alguien in the preterite is not knowing but meeting — the first time your paths crossed — which is where the next chart begins.
| You know… | Verb | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| a fact, a piece of information | saber | Sé la respuesta. ¿Sabes su nombre? | I know the answer. Do you know his name? |
| that something is the case (que) | saber | Sé que llegas tarde. | I know that you are running late. |
| where, when, how, how much | saber | No sé dónde vive. | I don't know where she lives. |
| how to do something (skill) | saber + infinitive | Sabe tocar el piano. | She knows how to play the piano. |
| something by heart | saber | Me sé el poema de memoria. | I know the poem by heart. |
| a person | conocer a | Conozco a tu jefe. | I know your boss. |
| a place | conocer | ¿Conoces Bogotá? | Do you know Bogotá? (Have you been?) |
| a book, a film, a song, a dish | conocer | No conozco esa serie. | I don't know that series. |
| someone for the first time | conocer (preterite) | La conocí en Lima. | I met her in Lima. |
The past tense changes the meaning
This is the trap that survives into B1. Learners who have the facts-versus-people rule cold still write conocí for knew and supe for knew, because in English both are just knew. The rule is the one the preterite always carries: a completed moment. Supe is the moment the fact reached you; conocí is the moment you met. If you mean the state that was already there, it is the imperfect — sabía, conocía. The preterite vs imperfect quiz on this site has ten sentences on exactly that line.
| Verb | Preterite | Imperfect | The difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| saber | supe — I found out | sabía — I knew | Supe la verdad ayer (found out). Ya sabía la verdad (already knew). |
| conocer | conocí — I met | conocía — I knew (was acquainted with) | Conocí a Marta en 2019 (met). Conocía a Marta desde niña (had known her). |
| poder, querer, tener | pude — managed; quise — tried; tuve — got | podía, quería, tenía — the ongoing state | The same shift: the preterite turns a state into the event that started it. |
The pairs that trip English speakers
| English | Spanish | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I know Madrid. | Conozco Madrid. | A place you have been: conocer. |
| I know where Madrid is. | Sé dónde está Madrid. | A fact with a question word: saber. |
| Do you know Luis? | ¿Conoces a Luis? | A person: conocer, with the personal a. |
| Do you know about Luis? | ¿Sabes lo de Luis? | The news about him is information: saber. |
| I know this song. | Conozco esta canción. | Familiar with it: conocer. |
| I know this song by heart. | Me sé esta canción. | Able to sing it from memory: saber. |
| I know Spanish. | Sé español. | A language is a skill you have: saber. Conozco el español means you are acquainted with it, which is rarely what you mean. |
| It tastes of lemon. | Sabe a limón. | Saber a is a different verb altogether — to taste of — and the one place saber takes an a. |
Why do English speakers mix them up?
Because English folded the two into one verb a long time ago. French still has savoir and connaître, German wissen and kennen, Portuguese saber and conhecer — and Spanish, like them, never let the fact and the acquaintance share a word. An English speaker reaches for know and has to stop and ask which knowing it is. The habit forms fast once the question is a reflex — could I write it down or do it, or is it someone or somewhere I have met — and the quiz on this page is ten chances to make it one.
There is no first-party error rate on this page yet: our mistake tagger counts ser vs estar, por vs para, the tenses and the object pronouns, not saber vs conocer. When it does, the number will sit here, the way it does on the sibling pages. Until then the quiz is the measure.
What comes after saber and conocer?
The tú vs usted quiz is the other choice English makes with one word and Spanish with two, and the ser vs estar quiz is the one every beginner meets first. The past-tense trap above is the preterite vs imperfect quiz in miniature. The free Spanish level test places you on the A1–C2 scale in five minutes. Saber and conocer are settled by A2 — A2 vs B1 Spanish says what else changes on that line, and how to go from A2 to B1 is the plan.