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Common lookups: again all any are as be before best can come day do each even first from go good happy have he her in it just know last me merry must my of on over please right some take that up very what would you

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1. know Verb, transitive

(a) when it takes a clause, translated by savoir savoir; to ~ how to do sth savoir faire qch; to ~ if/whether... savoir si...; to ~ when/why/where... savoir quand/pourquoi/où...; to ~ (that)... savoir que...; I don't ~ what time he's coming (at) je ne sais pas à quelle heure il vient; do you ~ why he said that? est-ce que tu sais pourquoi il a dit cela?, savez-vous pourquoi il a dit cela? (frm); I didn't ~ that you spoke French je ne savais pas que tu parlais français
(b) (=have some knowledge of) facts, answer, subject, address, number connaître; (=have fuller understanding of) facts, subject, answer savoir; I don't ~ his number/name je ne connais (or) sais pas son numéro/nom; do you ~ the difference between X and Y? est-ce que tu sais (or) connais la différence entre X et Y?; do you ~ the answer? tu sais (or) connais la réponse?
(c) (=gain knowledge of) connaître, apprendre; I'd like to ~ your opinion j'aimerais connaître votre opinion, but when the translation involves a clause, savoir must of course be used j'aimerais savoir ce que vous en pensez; to get to ~ sth apprendre qch
(d) (=be acquainted with) person, town, story connaître; do you ~ Paul? est-ce que tu connais Paul?; do you ~ Balzac/the Beatles? tu connais Balzac/les Beatles?; I ~ Paris well je connais bien Paris; do you know Paris? -no, I don't (know it) tu connais Paris? -non, je ne connais pas
(e) (frm) in phrase to know X to be Y savoir; I ~ him to be willing to take risks je le sais prêt à prendre des risques (frm), je sais qu'il est prêt à prendre des risques (neutral); I ~ Jean to be capable of doing it je sais que Jean est capable de le faire (neutral), je sais Jean capable de le faire (literary)
(f) to get to ~ sb (=for first time) faire la connaissance de qn; (make better friends with) (commencer à) mieux connaître qn; (esp in negative: have opportunity of meeting) avoir l'occasion de connaître; (Infml) when you get to ~ him, he's a nice guy quand on le connaît un peu mieux, c'est un gars sympa; I never got to ~ her je n'ai jamais eu l'occasion de la connaître
(g) (esp in past tense: live through, suffer, experience) cold, love, suffering, difficulties connaître, savoir (literary); they have ~n suffering ils ont connu la souffrance; notice that with connaître, the subject need not be animate France has ~n many problems la France a connu beaucoup de problèmes
(h) to not ~ that... ne pas être sûr que... ( subjunctive); I don't ~ that he can help you je ne suis pas sûr qu'il puisse vous aider

2. know Verb, intransitive

(a) savoir; I don't ~ je ne sais pas; (Infml) I wouldn't ~! j'en sais rien, moi!; (Infml) how should I ~? comment tu veux que je sache moi?; as far as I ~ (pour) autant que je sache...; you never ~ on ne sait jamais, on sait jamais (Infml)
(b) "you know..." "tu sais...", "vous savez..."
(c) to ~ of sth/sb avoir entendu parler de qch/qn; (=know) connaître qch/qn


Except where otherwise stated, all dictionary content compiled by Neil Coffey and copyright © Javamex UK 2011. All rights reserved.