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Definition 2025
connaître
connaître
See also: connaitre
French
Alternative forms
Verb
connaître
- (transitive) to know (of), to be familiar with (a person, place, fact, event)
- (transitive) to know, to experience (glory, hunger, problems etc.)
- (transitive, archaic) to know (sexually)
- (takes a reflexive pronoun) 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 /kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃/ |
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| past participle | connu /kɔ.ny/ |
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| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | connais /kɔ.nɛ/ |
connais /kɔ.nɛ/ |
connaît /kɔ.nɛ/ |
connaissons /kɔ.nɛ.sɔ̃/ |
connaissez /kɔ.nɛ.se/ |
connaissent /kɔ.nɛs/ |
| imperfect | connaissais /kɔ.nɛ.sɛ/ |
connaissais /kɔ.nɛ.sɛ/ |
connaissait /kɔ.nɛ.sɛ/ |
connaissions /kɔ.nɛ.sjɔ̃/ |
connaissiez /kɔ.nɛ.sje/ |
connaissaient /kɔ.nɛ.sɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | connus /kɔ.ny/ |
connus /kɔ.ny/ |
connut /kɔ.ny/ |
connûmes /kɔ.nym/ |
connûtes /kɔ.nyt/ |
connurent /kɔ.nyʁ/ |
|
| future | connaîtrai /kɔ.nɛ.tʁe/ |
connaîtras /kɔ.nɛ.tʁa/ |
connaîtra /kɔ.nɛ.tʁa/ |
connaîtrons /kɔ.nɛ.tʁɔ̃/ |
connaîtrez /kɔ.nɛ.tʁe/ |
connaîtront /kɔ.nɛ.tʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | connaîtrais /kɔ.nɛ.tʁɛ/ |
connaîtrais /kɔ.nɛ.tʁɛ/ |
connaîtrait /kɔ.nɛ.tʁɛ/ |
connaîtrions /kɔ.nɛ.tʁi.jɔ̃/ |
connaîtriez /kɔ.nɛ.tʁi.je/ |
connaîtraient /kɔ.nɛ.tʁɛ/ |
|
| 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 /kɔ.nɛs/ |
connaisses /kɔ.nɛs/ |
connaisse /kɔ.nɛs/ |
connaissions /kɔ.nɛ.sjɔ̃/ |
connaissiez /kɔ.nɛ.sje/ |
connaissent /kɔ.nɛs/ |
| imperfect1 |
connusse /kɔ.nys/ |
connusses /kɔ.nys/ |
connût /kɔ.ny/ |
connussions /kɔ.ny.sjɔ̃/ |
connussiez /kɔ.ny.sje/ |
connussent /kɔ.nys/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | connais /kɔ.nɛ/ |
— | connaissons /kɔ.nɛ.sɔ̃/ |
connaissez /kɔ.nɛ.se/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Usage notes
- To translate "know" in the sense "to know something to be true", the verb savoir is used.
Derived terms
Anagrams
Norman
Alternative forms
- counaîte (France, Guernsey)
Etymology
From Latin conoistre, from Latin cognōscere, present active infinitive of cognōscō (probably through a Vulgar Latin *connōscere).
Verb
connaître
Derived terms
- connaître de vue (“to know by sight”)