The German verbs wissen, kennen, and können can all be translated as “know,” but they’re used in different contexts. Wissen means “to know as fact,” kennen means “to know, as in to be acquainted with,” and können means “to know how to” or “to be able to.”
Ich weiß, dass er heute Abend Geige spielt.
I know that he is playing the violin tonight.
Ich kenne den Geiger gut.
I know the violinist well.
Er kann Französisch und Deutsch.
He knows French and German.
In this post, we’ll introduce you to all the different uses of these three related verbs, and give you some tips and tricks for how to use them correctly. Let’s get learning!
The verb wissen is used to talk about what someone knows as a fact, whether they learned it by experience or observation. Here are some common situations when you would use wissen:
when stating that you know a fact about something
Wir wissen, dass das Zirkuszelt rot-weiß gestreift ist.
We know that the big top is striped in red and white.
Der Zirkusdirektor weiß, dass der Clown immer zu spät kommt.
The ringmaster knows that the clown is always late.
when expressing knowledge of a time, manner, reason, or location:
Die Zauberin weiß, wo sein Zylinderhut ist.
The magician knows where her tophat is.
Wir wissen, warum du so gut Einrad fahren kannst.
We know why you can ride a unicycle so well.
when introducing a question:
Wisst ihr, ob die Trapezartistin morgen auftrifft?
Do you know whether the trapeze artist will perform tomorrow?
Weißt du, wer heute Abend im Zirkus auftritt?
Do you know who is performing in the circus tonight?
when talking about knowing a specific unit of knowledge, e.g. a name, directions, or an answer:
Weißt du den Namen des Zirkusdirektors?
Do you know the name of the ringmaster?
Ich weiß den Weg zum Zirkus leider nicht.
Unfortunately, I don’t know the way to the circus.
Here are some tips about the grammar of wissen(to know):
The verb wissen is usually followed by a subordinate clause that expresses a known fact, observation, or previous experience. Typical conjunctions following wissen are dass(that), ob(if, whether), and conjunctions derived from question words like wer(who), wie(how), wann(when), or was(what).
Weißt du, wann die Vorstellung beginnt?
Do you know when the performance starts?
Wir wissen, dass der schwarze Pudel gestern durch den Ring gesprungen ist.
We know that the black poodle jumped through the hoop yesterday.
Remember that the conjunction dass(that) can be omitted without changing the meaning. But if it is dropped, then the verb in the subordinate clause will no longer be in final position.
Wir wissen, du kannst gut Einrad fahren.
We know you can ride a unicycle well.
After wissen, conjunctions other than dass cannot be dropped.
Wissen can also have a noun or pronoun direct objectNo definition set for direct objectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., but that direct object has to represent some kind of factual knowledge.
Ich weiß die Antwort leider nicht.
Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer.
Wissen cannot take a direct object that represents a living being, location, feeling, or an experience like die Freiheit(freedom).
In cases where wissen takes a direct object noun, it is interchangeable with the verb kennen, so either can be used:
Weißt / Kennst du den Weg zum Zirkus?
Do you know the way to the circus?
After wissen, conjunctions other than dass cannot be dropped.
Next up is kennen, which can be used to express another aspect of knowledge: familiarity. Kennen is used to express that we know and are familiar or acquainted with people, things, locations, or even concepts. Use it in these situations:
when expressing you know someone:
Der Seiltänzer kennt die anderen Artisten sehr gut.
The tightrope walker knows all the other circus performers very well.
Ich kenne ihn von der letzten Zirkusvorstellung.
I know him from the last circus performance.
when expressing you are familiar with an object, place, situation, etc.
Kennst du diesen Zirkus? Er war letztes Jahr auch hier.
Do you know that circus? It was here last year, too.
Die Zauberin kennt Paris sehr gut, denn sie ist dort aufgewachsen.
The magician knows Paris very well, because she grew up there.
The main point to remember about the grammar of kennen is that it is never followed by a subordinate clause. Rather, it is always with a noun or pronoun as its direct object. You can pick kennen if you want to express that you know a living being, object or concept:
Die Artistin kennt den Zirkusdirektor gut.
The circus performer knows the ringmaster well.
Ich kenne das Zirkuszelt wie meine Westentasche.
I know the big top like the back of my hand.
Natürlich kennen Artisten das Gefühl des Lampenfiebers.
Of course, circus performers know the feeling of stage fright.
The modal verb können is used to talk about having an ability or knowing how to do something. Its most common English equivalents are “can,” “to be able to,” or “to know how to.”
This one is especially tricky! Not only is it sometimes translated as “to know,” but some of its forms look very similar to forms of kennen.
Most often können is used along with another verb, expressing that one has the ability to perform that action:
Kannst du jonglieren und dabei am Trapez turnen?
Can you juggle and perform on the trapeze while doing so?
Werden sie morgen auch jonglieren können?
Will they be able to juggle tomorrow, as well?
In quite a few cases, though, that other action is not even mentioned in the clause and können appears on its own. Here are some of the main cases when you might use können to mean “know.”
when talking about the ability to speak a language:
Kannst du Französisch (sprechen)?
Do you know French?
lit. Can you (speak) French?
when talking about the ability to perform a certain movement (e.g. a somersault or dancing tango):
Der Pudel kann einen Purzelbaum und er kann Walzer.
The poodle can do a somersault and he knows how to dance a waltz.
Note that not in all cases, “to know” is the best English equivalent for these uses of können.
Können is a modal verb in German. Here are some tips that will help you use it correctly!
Like other modal verbs, können is most often used to modify another verb, in the infinitive.
Ich kann singen und ich kann dabei Einrad fahren.
I can sing and ride an unicycle while doing so.
But you can drop the infinitive after können, leaving the direct object of the infinitive:
Ich kann diesen Tanz (tanzen).
I know this dance.
lit. I can (dance) this dance.
Still, when you use können an action is always implied. If you are not sure whether to use kennen + object or können + object, think about whether you want to imply an ability or simply a familiarity
Ich kenne diesen Tanz.
I know this dance.
Ich kann diesen Tanz.
I know this dance.
Anything ability you can express with können can be expressed with wie(how) and the indefinite pronoun man(one):
Sie kann diesen Walzer. = Sie weiß, wie man diesen Walzer tanzt.
She knows this waltz. = She knows how one dances this waltz.
You can use this structure if you want to focus more on the knowledge aspect rather than the ability to do something.
Now that we have gotten to know these three verbs a bit better, we can see how their meanings cover three different aspects of the English equivalent “to know”:
wissen
kennen
können
Distinguishing the meanings of the verbs can help to decide when to use which, but there is some overlap between those meanings and very similar concepts are expressed with different verbs.
wissen | kennen | können |
|---|---|---|
factual knowledge | familiarity | ability |
Ich weiß, dass in Österreich Deutsch gesprochen wird. I know that German is spoken in Austria. → The speaker knows a fact about language usage in Austria. | Ich kenne die deutsche Sprache und Kultur. I know the German language and culture. → The speaker is familiar with German, e.g. has perhaps heard it before in a cultural context, but isn’t necessarily a speaker | Ich kann Deutsch. I know German. lit. I can (speak) German. → The speaker has the ability to speak German. |
All three of these “knowledge” verbs are irregular and some of them have overlapping forms that make it hard to decide which is which! But knowing about all these conjugation quirks will make it easy.
Let’s first look at their conjugation charts, then we can discuss the forms you should pay special attention to:
wissen(to know as fact):
Person | Present Tense | Simple Past | Present Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
ich | weiß | wusste | habe gewusst |
du | weißt | wusstest | hast gewusst |
er/sie/es | weiß | wusste | hat gewusst |
wir | wissen | wussten | haben gewusst |
ihr | wisst | wusstet | habt gewusst |
sie / Sie | wissen | wussten | haben gewusst |
Notice that:
The stem vowel changes in the present tense ei vs. i.
It’s a mixed verb in the simple past and present perfect, taking regular endings, but also a stem change.
kennen(to be familiar with):
Person | Present Tense | Simple Past | Present Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
ich | kenne | kannte | habe gekannt |
du | kennst | kanntest | hast gekannt |
er/sie/es | kennt | kannte | hat gekannt |
wir | kennen | kannten | haben gekannt |
ihr | kennt | kanntet | habt gekannt |
sie / Sie | kennen | kannten | haben gekannt |
Notice that:
The present tense is regular!
In the past tenses it’s mixed, with regular endings but also a stem change.
können(to be familiar withto be able to):
Person | Present Tense | Simple Past | Present Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
ich | kenne | konnte | (gekonnt) → While a perfect exists in certain regional varieties of German, in Standard German modal verbs are used in the simple past instead. |
du | kannst | konntest | |
er/sie/es | kann | konnte | |
wir | können | konnten | |
ihr | könnt | konntet | |
sie / Sie | können | konnten |
Notice that:
Können has a stem change in the present and past tense, but it take regular endings.
In standard German, it does not have a perfect tense in standard German, so we use the simple past instead.
Kennen and können are easy to confused because of their similar meanings, and also because their verb forms are very similar: the present tense singular stem of können and the past tense forms of kennen use the same vowel: a. Take a look (and avoid the confusion):
Ich kann Feuer spucken.
I can breathe fire.
Ich kannte den Feuerspucker.
I knew the firebreather.
The conjugation of wissen is very similar to that of the modal verbs, even though it does not belong to that category. Both modal verbs and wissen have a stem change in the present tense singular and the 1st and 3rd person conjugation endings are absent. That makes them different from regular verbs. But wissen is its own little oddity: it is the only German verb that changes its stem vowel to ei in the present tense singular. Makes it easy to remember!
Let’s see what we’ve learned. In this post, we talked about how to distinguish between three somewhat similar verbs:
Wissen is used to express factual knowledge and experience that has become knowledge.
It is usually used with a subordinate clause.
It can also take a direct object, but only if the direct object represents a unit of knowledge, in which case it is interchangeable with kennen.
Kennen is used to express acquaintance and familiarity.
It is only used with a direct object and never with a subordinate clause.
Können is a modal verb used to express ability and knowing how to do something.
It is usually used with another verb in the infinitive and a direct object.
The infinitive verb can be left out when it is clearly implied by the direct object, e.g. when talking about knowing a language.
Now, are you ready to practice? Check out our wissen, kennen, and können activities! Happy learning!
