Wissen vs Kennen in German: What's the Difference?
Wissen is for facts and kennen is for people, places and things you're familiar with. Clear rules, conjugation, the können trap and a self-test.
Use wissen for facts and information. Use kennen for people, places and things you're familiar with. English has one verb, "to know", so a simple test helps: if you could answer the question with a piece of information, it's probably wissen. If you mean "I've met it" or "I'm familiar with it", it's kennen.
Side by side
| Wissen | Kennen | |
|---|---|---|
| Means | Knowing a fact | Being familiar with someone or something |
| Often followed by | dass, ob, wo, wann, warum | A noun or person |
| Example | Ich weiß, wo er wohnt. (I know where he lives.) | Ich kenne ihn. (I know him.) |
| Example | Weißt du, wie spät es ist? (Do you know what time it is?) | Kennst du Berlin? (Do you know Berlin?) |
When to use wissen
Think of wissen as having information in your head. It usually comes before a clause:
- Ich weiß, dass du müde bist. (I know that you're tired.)
- Wir wissen nicht, ob sie kommt. (We don't know whether she's coming.)
- Ich weiß es nicht. (I don't know.)
It can also take a noun when that noun is itself a piece of information, like an answer, a name or an address:
- Ich weiß die Antwort. (I know the answer.)
- Sie weiß seine Adresse. (She knows his address.)
When to use kennen
Think of kennen as having come across something. It's almost always followed by a noun:
- Ich kenne deine Schwester. (I know your sister.)
- Kennst du dieses Lied? (Do you know this song?)
- Wir kennen ein gutes Restaurant. (We know a good restaurant.)
If there's a person or a place after "know", you can nearly always choose kennen. Ich weiß ihn is wrong.
How to conjugate them
Wissen is irregular in the singular, and it's the form learners most often get wrong. Kennen is regular in the present.
| wissen | kennen | |
|---|---|---|
| ich | weiß | kenne |
| du | weißt | kennst |
| er, sie, es | weiß | kennt |
| wir | wissen | kennen |
| ihr | wisst | kennt |
| sie, Sie | wissen | kennen |
Notice that ich and er are the same: ich weiß, er weiß, with no -t on the third person. In the past, they become wusste and kannte, with the participles gewusst and gekannt.
The third verb: können
Learners sometimes mix in können (can), which looks a little like kennen. It's for abilities:
- Ich kann schwimmen. (I can swim.)
- Ich kann Deutsch. (I can speak German.) This one is common in everyday speech.
So "I know how to swim" uses können, not wissen.
Test yourself
Choose wissen or kennen in the right form, then check below.
- Ich ___ nicht, wo mein Handy ist.
- ___ du meinen Bruder?
- Wir ___ dieses Café sehr gut.
- Er ___, dass der Kurs morgen beginnt.
- ___ ihr, wann der Zug kommt?
- Ich ___ den Film noch nicht.
Answers: 1. weiß. 2. Kennst. 3. kennen. 4. weiß. 5. Wisst. 6. kenne.
Keep going
Our German present tense lesson and modal verbs lesson cover more verbs like these, each with a quiz.
Choosing the right verb gets easier the more real German you read. Our Learn German app goes from vocabulary and grammar through graded reading to Kafka and Zweig, with a translation under every line. It's free to download, though some books and extra content need diamonds you earn while learning, or Premium.