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what is the difference between Savoir and connaitre?

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Hello Venus.

Savoir is always followed by a verb, at the infinitive form.
Connaître, OTOH, is always followed by a noun.

So in the first case, it's about an ability to perform an action, in the second case, this is something you know.

Here's a couple of examples:

Je sais conduire
Tu sais cuisiner
Il sait parler Italien

Je connais ta soeur
Tu connais le chemin pour aller en haut de la montagne
Il connaît beaucoup de chansons


When "to know" is followed by a word like "who" or "what", as in "He knows what to do" and "You know who I am". In that case, we always use savoir, even if the verb is now always in its infinitive form, as in the second example:

Il sait quoi faire
Tu sais qui je suis
Excellent explanation Frank! Thank you so much. Pam
When "to know" is followed by a word like "who" or "what", as in "He knows what to do" and "You know who I am", we always use savoir, even if the verb is now not always in its infinitive form, as in the second example
Je sais conduire.

Tu sais cuisiner.

Il sait parler Italien.

In English, people say, I know how to drive a car and I know how to cook rice/beef.

I know to talk to talk to beautiful girls. [ Sounds odd to me.]
I know how to talk to beautiful girls. [ Correct.]

Does the sentence 'Je sais conduire' tantamount to I know how to drive?
I know how to talk to beautiful girls
Je sais comment parler aux belles filles

Does the sentence 'Je sais conduire' tantamount to I know how to drive?

Yes.

However, "Je sais comment conduire" also makes sense. In French, you can almost always use "comment + infinitive" _and_ "infinitive" :

Je sais conduire
Je sais comment conduire

What's the difference, then?

The first one is very generic. If you say "Je sais conduire", it doesn't refer to any vehicle in particular. Without any further explanation, people will guess you're talking about regular cars, but "je sais conduire" could also mean that you're able to drive motorbikes, boats, jetpacks, ...

On the other hand "Je sais comment conduire" refers to a specific vehicle. You usually need to explicitely say which one, as in "Je sais conduire les camions". It can even be more specific: "Je sais conduire ce type de camion".

"Je sais cuisiner" : this is generic. You're able to cook.
"Je sais comment cuisiner" : people are expecting an end to this phrase, ie. what you know how to cook, as in "Je sais comment cuisiner ce genre de poisson".
Great explanation... Thanks..
People have already given great responses here, but just to add my input, it helps me to think that "knowing how to do something" is a different kind of "know" that knowing a person or being familiar with something.

"knowing how to do" = sais
(Like I know how to cook- je sais cuisiner or I don't know how to speak french - Je ne sais pas parler francais)

"Knowing a noun" = Connais

Frank's response is better, but this is how I remember it!
Thanks Frank and Katie for the replies.
I can cook.
The above means I know how to cook because there are some others who don't know how to cook.

I know how to cook.
Je sais comment cuisiner.

4.Je sais comment cuisiner la viande.
I know how to cook beef or rather I know how to make a beef curry.
I hope my fourth sentence is fine.
I know how to cook = Je sais cuisiner

Your 4th sentence is correct, Crack.
6.Je peux cuisiner.
The above is correct too. It means that you can make a meal.
In other words,when you are talking about your abilities you could say I can drive, I can find girls, I can cook etc.
7.Je sais cuisiner.

How do you distinguished the difference between the sixth and the seventh sentences?
6. is Frenglish. We would sometimes say this in order to say "please let me cook"/"I can cook, if you want me to", but rarely in order to say "I know how to cook".

7. is the right way to say "I know how to cook".
So the sixth one is English.
It is very interesting.
Je peux cuisiner.

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