Sapere o conoscere?

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Conoscere VS Sapere
Conoscere and sapere are two Italian verbs that are often confused and interchanged since both of them can be translated into English as to know. First, learn their forms
Conoscere

Sapere

Conoscere means to know in the sense of being acquainted with… or being familiar with… It is used with people, places, animals, works of art and a few other things (la verità ‘the true‘, il passato ‘the past‘, il proprio dovere ‘ one’s own duty‘, etc.. Keep in mind that conoscere it is never followed by verbs (Io conosco cantare), prepositions (Io conosco del tuo esame) and other words such as dove  (Io non conosco dove sono), quando (Tu conosci quando arrivano?) and so on (see below), which instead, is likely to happen with sapere. In short, the verb to know can be translated with conoscere only when the object known is expressed by a noun, as you can see in the sentences below (Marco; l’Italia; i gatti; tutte le canzoni):

• • Lui non conosce Marco He doesn’t know Marco
  • Io conosco bene l’Italia  I know Italy well
    
  • Noi conosciamo bene i gatti (We know cats well)
  • Matteo conosce tutte le canzoni di Vasco Rossi  Matteo knows all Vasco Rossi’s songs

Sapere means to know in the sense of being aware of something and it is never used with people.

• It is used to express the knowledge of facts and information:
  • Io non so a che ora parte il treno (I I don’t know what time the train leaves)
  • Lui sa molte cose (He knows a lot of things)

• It is used to say that one knows how to do something. In this case, sapere is followed by an infinitive form of a verb and it means to know how to.., to be able to... :
  • Noi sappiamo parlare italiano (We know how to speak Italian)
  • Io non so fare i compiti (I don’t know how to do my homework)
  • Lei sa guidare un’auto (She is able to drive a car)

• It is often followed by dove (where), quando (when), quanto (how much), chi (who), che cosa (what) che (that), come (how),  se (if), so it is the equivalent of the English to know followed by the same words:
  • Io non so quando lui arriva (I don’t know when he arrives)
  • Sai come si dice in italiano “key”? (Do you know how to say in Italian “key”?)
  • Loro sanno che sei mio cugino (They know that you are my cousin)
  • Non so che cosa fare (I don’t know what to do)
  • Non so se lui è a casa (I don’t know if he is home)

• It is used with the preposition di (or del, della, etc.) meaning to know about..
  • Sappiamo di voi (We know about you)
  • Non sapete dell’incontro con il professore? (Don’t you know about the meeting with the professor?)

• It is used with  words such as tutto (everything), niente (nothing), poco (a littel), troppo (too much), etc.:
  • Lei sa sempre tutto (She always knows everything)
  • Tu sai troppo (You know too much)

• The two forms Lo so (I know [it]) and Non lo so (I don’t know [it]) are often used when answering questions:
  • Q: Sai che Giulia si sposa domani? A: Sì, lo so (Q: Do you know tah Giulia is getting married tomorrow? A: Yes, I know)
  • Q: Sai che ore sono? A: Mi dispiace! Non lo so. (Q: Do you know what time is it? A: I am sorry! I don’t)

• Che cosa sai fare? Write ten sentences: five indicating what things you know how to do well, and the other five indicating things you do not know how to do. Then use Spell and Grammar Checker to check if there are mistakes in your text.
  
• How many Italian actors/singers do you know? Ask your friends if they know the same ones. Use Speech to text to check your/their pronunciation.