connaître

French

Alternative forms

• connaitre

Etymology

From Latin cognōscere, present active infinitive of cognōscō

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /kɔ.nɛtʁ/, SAMPA: /kO.nEtR/

Verb

connaître

1. (transitive) to know (of), to be familiar with (a person, place, fact, event)
2. (transitive) to know, to experience (glory, hunger, problems etc.)
3. (transitive, archaic) to know (sexually)
4. (pronominal) to be knowledgeable (en about)

   C'est toi qui t'y connais! You're the expert!

Conjugation

• This verb is one of a fairly small group of -re verbs, that are all conjugated the same way. They are unlike other verb groups in that the ‘i’ is given a circumflex before a ‘t’.

   Conjugation of connaître (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		connaître			avoir connu
gerund		en connaissant			en ayant connu
present participle		connaissant
past participle		connu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	connais	connais	connaît	connaissons	connaissez	connaissent
	imperfect	connaissais	connaissais	connaissait	connaissions	connaissiez	connaissaient
	past historic1	connus	connus	connut	connûmes	connûtes	connurent
	future	connaîtrai	connaîtras	connaîtra	connaîtrons	connaîtrez	connaîtront
	conditional	connaîtrais	connaîtrais	connaîtrait	connaîtrions	connaîtriez	connaîtraient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	connaisse	connaisses	connaisse	connaissions	connaissiez	connaissent
	imperfect1	connusse	connusses	connût	connussions	connussiez	connussent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	connais	—	connaissons	connaissez	—
1literary tenses

Usage notes

Use savoir if you want to say you know something to be true

Derived terms

• connaissance
• connu

Anagrams

• actionner, container, encornait, reconnait, reconnaît, renonçait