SABER vs CONOCER - How to Say "To Know" in Spanish

When it comes to deciding between saber vs conocer, Spanish students tend to get the verb choice right.
But, the most common errors with these two Spanish verbs aren't related to word choice but how we should use these two Spanish verbs in a sentence.
In this video you'll learn:
The differences between saber vs conocer
The meaning of saber and how it use it in a sentence
The meaning of conocer and how it use it in a sentence
The similarities between saber vs conocer
The most common errors that students make with these verbs
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[@realfastspanish]

How else can we use saber and conocer in a Spanish sentence?

[@lpwriter-editor4449]

Tengo que saber si conoces a un español nativo.

[@realfastspanish]

@@lpwriter-editor4449 ¡Genial! 👍

[@realfastspanish]

@@Spanish55 Jejeje, ¡¡Me encanta!! 😂

[@MrCamparisafari]

my friends would always use it at the end of a sentence when they were explaining something that happened to them like "yaknow ' sabes ? ;)

[@maxmansi]

En Argentina son bastante intercambiables. Para mí era algo obvio y natural hasta que vi el video, pero noto que "saber" está relacionado con un verbo -saber hacer algo-, y "conocer" está relacionado a un sustantivo -conocer algo-.

[@petrosstefanidis6396]

Wow! It's the first time I see a teacher picking clips from native speakers. That's brilliant! Really helpful, thank you.

[@realfastspanish]

Glad you enjoyed it! 😀

[@ytb3748]

Dude's a straight shooter!! He wastes no time, straight to the point!

[@rassabossa4554]

I absolutely love the professionalism of this video, esp. the way you mix in movies/TV.

[@realfastspanish]

Thanks for the feedback @RassaBossa!!

[@BohdanMelnychuk]

@@realfastspanish perhaps you do that in newer videos (I have just discovered the channel with this video!), but it would be nice to have the titles of the movies included somewhere on the screen. Thanks for the content!

[@fdolll]

Same ... Muy interesante!!!

[@mjperfume1523]

Andrew tu eres best o bueno Yo entiendo de saber y conoco😁👍👍

[@simonedens3723]

Muchas gracias. Otra vez, un vídeo excelente. Cometí un error durante una tutoría ayer (soy estudiante de español intermedio en la Open University del Reino Unido). Dije a mi compañero “¿Conoces que hay una isla….?” En cuanto la había dicho me di cuenta que debería haber utilizado el verbo saber. Por lo que, he visto tu vídeo para revisar los conceptos y lo encontré muy útil. Te agradezco de nuevo. 🙏

[@fakeye]

Thank you. I speak fluent Spanish but I’m always learning and really enjoy your videos

[@RafaAkd]

Your videos are great. As a native speaker I enjoy them a lot! It’s also helpful for helping my daughter to think in Spanish as she’s starting to translate from English when talking to us (we’re from Venezuela bur she was born in the US where we live now). Also, I’ve always thought “Yo qué sé” ad “What I know? or “Why would I know?”

[@mjperfume1523]

Andrew i find these lesson muy easy, its not to hard to recordar este leccion, except the personal a🤗👍👍👍👍

[@albertopatrocinio6102]

I'll follow you professor where ever you are.

[@aimeedeemter7860]

Realmente me gustó cómo usaste ejemplos de la vida real por medio de videoclips, Andrew! No he visto en ninguna otra explicación de video así. Tu pronunciación es muy buena pero es muy útil escuchar la pronunciación de hablantes nativos!

[@realfastspanish]

¡Gracias por las amables palabras, Amy! Me alegro mucho de que te guste :)

[@dismaldunc]

you really are a splendid teacher, I like to pause the vid when you set up a sentance and see if i can work it out, also love the clips, they illustrate your points really well. thanks a lot !

[@getthefakepanda8334]

gracias por su lectura

[@mojojojoe100]

i'm glad you asked for comments on what we didn't understand or I wouldn't have asked. at 11:22: "como cuando nos conocimos" you said that translates to "when we first met" but didn't explain how can that be when the word "primero" or similar isn't present

[@spider2666]

You don't need a word like 'primero' because 'nos conocimos' already means 'when we met (for the first time)', literally 'we became acquainted with each other'. You would use another verb, like encontrar, if you were talking about meeting for lunch or something (i.e not meeeting for the first time)

[@mojojojoe100]

@@spider2666 thanks, encontrar seems strange, could you use ver?... I went to see my friend?

[@spider2666]

@@mojojojoe100 Yes, though I don't think it's that commonly used to mean 'meet up with'. Quedar is probably most commonly used for meeting up with people you already know. Pasar can be used if you call upon them, at their house, say. Reunir can also be used. It depends on other word choice and exact shade of meaning.

[@mustangally1]

Very helpful. You're the best!

[@angelaanderson1677]

Thank you so much for using the film clips. Massively helps with listening, recognition and identifying words/phrases in 'real' speaking situations. :)

[@GeorgetaBlanaru]

You are a genius!

[@juliecollins4855]

Que fantástico!! Muchas gracias por una lección muy clara.

[@paul4199-e7e]

Muchísimas gracias por este vídeo. Ser honesto, he tenido problemas con esas palabras. He hecho ejercicios numerosos para entender mejor las usarías diferentes pero este es el mejor explicación. Saludos y otra vez gracias 🙏😀

[@OreoMonstar]

wow! must've taken a real long while to compile all these relevant clips. really appreciate it =)

[@realfastspanish]

Yes, I'm glad you liked it!

[@ozlemaykac1135]

Exellent explanation.

[@PatriciaBees]

I love your videos so much, i absolutely love the examples of the tv shows and movies in spanish that relate to the lesson it makes it so much more fun and easy to catch gracias por eso.

[@realfastspanish]

Thank you for the great feedback! 😃

[@AeliosArt]

Really like how these videos are put together. Very clear, great examples, etc. Thanks a bunch!

[@realfastspanish]

Thanks for the kind words Chase! 🙏

[@AnabelCassidy]

Thank you for your videos. The "speaks in foreign language" caption is on all the videos here where the translation is and i cannot write any of the information down.

[@brandonjcollins1062]

I have just found you on KZbin and absolutely love your videos. They are very well done and really helping me with my Spanish.. ¡Muchas Gracias!

[@realfastspanish]

¡De nada! Thanks for the feedback!!

[@lorenaburrows1053]

My students and I enjoyed watching the video. Thank you!

[@barbaraeddies146]

Hello, I find your lessons very informative and most useful. Thank you for making my learning easier. Just have noticed that when presenting forms of different verbs the vosotros illustration-examples seem to be omitted .I wonder if the reason behind it is maybe that the plural verb form for you is not widely used or is it anything else. Kind regards, Barbara

[@monkeyfeeders]

That was fantastic!!! I can’t find link for letter. Also I am beginner and tried to use “ conecer “ when I said to a person “ te conozco “ I thought I was saying “ I know you or I am familiar with you “ cause we had met years ago. Did I say the right thing?

[@gerlautamr.656]

Yes

[@lpwriter-editor4449]

Very useful - Muy útil, gracias.

[@realfastspanish]

¡Gracias! Thanks for the feedback!! :)

[@whiteroseequestrian1927]

Thank you! 😊

[@philhodgson6453]

Excellent video, - also love the weekly newsletter.

[@realfastspanish]

Thanks Phil for kind words Phil!

[@gregdk3791]

Gracias

[@dianadebeer376]

Thanks

[@annabellegalvan120]

So helpful, thank you!

[@MusicWordMusic]

I wish you had covered how to distinguish "Do you know of Sebastian?" and "Have you met Sebastian?" when Sebastian is a famous person. I got into an argument with my Venezuelan boyfriend when I asked him if he was familiar with Sebastian Yatra, a Chilean songwriter featured in "Encanto." I just wanted to know if he had previous knowledge of Sebastian, so I used conocer. I think he replied, "Yes, I met him in Chile" or "Yes, I became familiar with him in Chile." He also used conocer, so it seemed ambiguous. So I tried to clarify what I wanted to know using encontrar, and he got really huffy, as if I were asking something inappropriately personal. "Why do you want to know?" I replied, "I'm just curious," and then I let it drop, because he seemed really angry.

[@lookingfortruth1930]

Por qué él está muy enojado? Jajaja

[@JustMe-to8te]

I think he got frustrated because he didn’t understand what you wanted. Language barrier.

[@davidbank336]

Great content as usual. Could you be so kind as to elaborate on when sentences are to begin with a "Y", such as seen in the example at 3:26?

[@JustMe-to8te]

Here the woman is explaining to the guy, what he has to do or what is going to happen when he’s in the bar. That’s the second part of the sentence, that’s why that clip is a bad example that only confuses students. It’s not normal to start a sentence using”y”.

[@UUathenssheshequin]

Have you done a video on using PUES?

[@silvestrenet]

Pues: Bueno, entonces --- well, then Ex. Pues, házlo --- bueno, házlo Házlo! Entonces.

[@namly9868]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

[@vatechie21]

These are awesome videos-just binged a bunch and cleared up a lot! Here’s a question (11:55) Are you saying that asking if you’re familiar with a famous person and asking if you’ve met a famous person are said the same: Conoces a Javier? (I suppose in English it’s the same: do you know Javier? But you could then clarify to Do you know OF Javier vs Know him - how would you distinguish in Spanish?)

[@ireneteaches8994]

Thanks for this video, and all your videos! Just a quick tip: the name of the US TV show is "How I Met Your Mother". In Spanish, "Como Me Encontre Con Tu Madre"

[@realfastspanish]

Gracias Irene 😊

[@NOURKH894]

Thank you sir. I do have one question tho, when I wanna ask someone if they know this song Is it correct to ask: ¿conoces esta canción?

[@realfastspanish]

Yes, this is okay 👍

[@NOURKH894]

Real Fast Spanish muchas gracias ❤️

[@MrCamparisafari]

Gracia Tio ! Es super util... pero que triste sobre de hecho de muerte ...Anthony ! Me encanta los libros y series de Anthony Bourdain... es muy muy triste , RIP !!

[@realfastspanish]

Sí, estoy de acuerdo. Anthony Bourdain era uno de mis grandes héroes :(

[@tezza6850]

Those film clips are spoken soooo fast omg!! I only dream of being able to understand spoken like that one day😃

[@realfastspanish]

It will come with time and practice Tezza!! 😊

[@pawtleopard]

So it's an infinitive

[@RealSpillReese]

PLEASE DO POR VS PARA 🙏🏾

[@realfastspanish]

I will definitely do this at some point!!

[@monkeyfeeders]

I think he has one on that cause I am sure I watched it before

[@kcorpora1]

A guy said "sabe de Texas?" I told him that Texas is a place so you use (conocer)... "conoce/s Texas?"

[@RUT812]

For saying I really don’t know, I say, “No tengo la menor idea.”

[@robertloper3307]

The link to the newsletter is not working.

[@carmenceciliaquinteroherna9553]

Sólo un comentario..."yo que sé" es una respuesta grosera que expresa fastidio o enojo. Es el equivalente a contestarle al otro "¿y por qué debería saberlo?". La otra persona podría sentirse ofendida o subestimada. Dependiendo del contexto en el que se usa no es equivalente a simplemente decir "yo no sé".

[@realfastspanish]

¡Gracias por compartir Carmen!

[@lesmiserablesjean]

Yes!

[@hypertj3744]

W video

[@neldelmundo794]

hello! I had been watching your vids for some time now, I live in Madrid with my spanish hubs and I am trying to learn spanish. I was just wondering how come you dont include VOSOTROS in your conjugations? thanks!

[@fernandorojocabrillas4691]

Good

[@agnieszkabadyga926]

Hola:) I'm wondering why in your videos, when you are conjugating verbs, the 2nd person plural (e.g. sabeis) gets skipped. It's not the first time in your lessons... Why?:)

[@gerlautamr.656]

The reason is because "sabéis" is conjugated with the "vosotros" form, and that form is only used in Spain, whilst he teaches the Spanish of Latin america.

[@corateacher]

Great video! One question: "¿Conoces a Javier Bardem?" means "Are you familiar with Javier Bardem?" But couldn't it also mean "Have you met Javier Bardem?" or "Do you know Javier Bardem (personally)?" If so, how do we know what the speaker is asking? [I realize that the answer is probably "by context," but I was wondering if there was something else that I might be missing.]

[@realfastspanish]

Hola Cora, you're right! You're not missing anything, context is the key here!

[@sergionegrete1210]

Hello ! You have good videos and you explain interesting details, both English and Spanish. Nevertheless, I consider that you use complicate examples in Spanish language. Additionally, I would like to mention that there are plenty of pronunciation and grammar mistakes on the Spanish media. Not always Spanish media is a "good" example of high quality of Spanish language. Knowledge about a language does not depend of a country, it depends of a person. Educated people about a language are always an small amount in comparison to a population. To shortly introduce myself, my name is Sergio, I studied laws in Venezuela. I am also a Spanish speaker with passion for languages. I offer you my opinion about Spanish if you like. Good luck with your videos !

[@orlahenry9769]

Sí Sergio, pero como estudiantes, necesitamos entender español de la calle. Para mí, esos vídeos son muy útil.

[@dianaarevalo496]

Úsenme para practicar español. ♡

[@prodigyx1089]

WHY SPANISH PEOPLE HAVE TO RAP WHEN THEY TALK

[@RodGibsonMusic]

The Castilian Spanish has a "whistly" S sound, almost like a SH sound.

[@gerlautamr.656]

Very true.I'm Mexican, and I can't make thar sound.Only Spaniards can make it.

[@gbaca07]

Spanish speakers, speak so fast

[@gerlautamr.656]

When you reach a good level of fluency, you'll think we don't speak that fast.That same thing happened to me when I was learning English, and I thought English speakers spoke super fast.I could barely understand a few words in a phrase.Now I can understand about 90% of a normal conversation with no problem, and without concentrating too much on it.So if you're learning Spanish, good luck, and kkep it up!

[@errothman]

Is it ok to say Has conocido rather than conoces a?

[@gerlautamr.656]

Has conocido means "Have you met...?", and Conoces a...? means "Do you know...? The two phrases are in different tense.But they are both ok of course.

[@rrandor1]

How would you ask "I know Sara's soul." Are we knowing a person or a thing?

[@realfastspanish]

What would be your best guess?

[@corateacher]

@@realfastspanish Conozco a la alma de Sara.

[@JorgeSchz2004]

That sentence is: *Yo conozco el alma de Sara And we are saying that we are knowing a thing, not a person, bacause a soul is a thing.

[@silvestrenet]

¿Conoces el alma de Sarah? Do you have met Sarah's soul? !Se más de lo que imaginas! -- I know more than you can imagine! . In spanish you rarely say: se del alma de Sarah unless you're saying something specific about it . Se como es el alma de ella. This way you're suggesting you know details about it.

[@mjperfume7907]

Saber..to know the answer Comover u know that person És correcto

[@rrandor1]

How do you say, "I have found the problem. It is John."?

[@realfastspanish]

Have a try? What do you think?

[@JustMe-to8te]

Yo que sé sounds rude, believe me. Just say: La verdad que no sé.

[@mjperfume7907]

How can I speed up my talking, everyone speaks so much faster than i

[@luqp9834]

How is Javier Bardern knowing who he is in saber and not conocer because your kind of knowing who the person is

[@shamimgough1714]

Why don't you teach the vosotros. I know you learned Spanish from South America but vosotros is just as important

[@williamobrien2253]

Tengo curiosidad. ¿Por qué tiene que usar "a" personal con conocer pero no con saber? ¿ Es porque cuando usamos saber es mas como saber un hecho? Hmmmm...No lo sé.

[@realfastspanish]

¡Buena pregunta! Y, sí, tienes razón. We need to use "a" when a person that we know is the object of the sentence ("I know Carlos"). In this sentence, we need to say "Conozco a Carlos" and we can't use "saber" in this context. In fact, it is very rare to use a person as the object of a sentence with "saber" and for this reason, it is rare to use the personal "a" with saber.

[@carmenceciliaquinteroherna9553]

Es posible usar "a" con saber en ejemplos cómo: -El no sabe a qué vino. -Yo no sé a quién preguntarle. -Está bien, sabemos a qué hora sale el vuelo. Aquí la persona o la cosa en cuestión no están definidos, pero es a ellos a quién se hace referencia.