Question

French Tutorial: Connaître, savoir, voir, croire

Answer 1

\({\bf{Connaître:}}\) to know (to be familiar or acquainted with. you can use with people, places, works, concepts, etc.)

Conjugation:
je connais
tu connais
il/elle/on connaît
nous connaissons
vous connaissez
ils/elles connaissent

spelling note: before a t, change i to an î (i circumflex)
examples:
Connaissez-vous mon ami? (Do you know my friend?)
Elle connaît bien la ville. (She knows the city well.)
Nous connaissons les pièces de shakespeare. (We know/are familiar with Shakespeare's plays)

verbs related to connaître are conjugated in a similar manner, ex:
- apparaître (to appear)
- reconnaître (to recognize)

Answer 2

\({\bf{Savoir:}}\) to know (use for facts, skills)

Conjugation:
je sais
tu sais
il/elle/on sait
nous savons
vous savez
ils/elles savent

Unlike connaître, which typically only takes a noun/pronoun object, you can use savoir with nouns, verbs, and suboordinate clauses.
examples:
Je sais jouer du piano. (I know how to play the piano.)
Il sait où est le bureau. (He knows where the office is.)
Je ne sais pas pourquoi les gens laissent des commentaires impolis et non pertinents sur mes messages. (I don't know why people leave rude and irrelevant comments on my posts.)

Answer 3

\({\bf{Voir:}}\) to see (can also be used figuratively, in expressions such as "do you see what I mean?")

Conjugations:
je vois
tu vois
il/elle/on voit
nous voyons
vous voyez
ils/elles voient

related verbs/expressions:
aller voir (to go see/visit)
revoir (to see again)

examples:
- Je vois ce que tu veux dire. (I see what you mean.)
- Allons voir un concert ce soir. (Let's see a concert tonight.)

Answer 4

\({\bf{Croire:}}\) to believe

Conjugations:
je crois
tu crois
il/elle/on croit
nous croyons
vous croyez
ils/elles croient

related expressions:
- croire à (to believe in, as in a concept)
- croire en (to trust a person, or to believe in God)
- Je crois que oui (I think so)

examples:
- Il ne croit pas à la réincarnation. (He doesn't believe in reincarnation.)
- Nous croyons en Dieu. (We believe in God.)

Answer 5

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Rochester, Myrna B. Easy French Step-by-Step, United States, McGraw-Hill Education, 2009, 161-166.

https://francais.lingolia.com/en/grammar/conjugator for verb conjugations

CollinsDictionary for French and English translations

Forvo (https://forvo.com/), a French pronunciation database with samples from native French speakers