[Spanish Verbs] What's the difference between Saber and Conocer?

You’ve just started learning Spanish, and "to know" seems like an important word to learn. So you Google it... and find that there are two words for "to know" in Spanish: saber and conocer.

What gives?

Well, they're used to talk about knowing different things!

But that's clear as mud, so let’s get into it:

What does "saber" mean?

Think of saber as knowing something in your head. It’s used when you know something from memory or when you have learned a skill. If you can memorize a phone number or if you've learned how to swim, you’d use saber to talk about knowing those things.

Two quick examples for you:

How to conjugate the verb saber in the present tense

Like many common verbs in Spanish, saber is irregular, so its forms don’t follow the usual pattern.

Since you'll often use this verb in the context of saying you do or don't know something, here’s how it looks in the present tense:

As you can see, the irregular conjugation here is sé (first person singular). If we were following normal conjugation rules, you'd expect sé to be sabo.

What does "conocer" mean?

While saber likely made sense, conocer tends to trip people up a bit. It means “to know” people, places, or things in a more personal or familiar way—less "know of" and more "be familiar with". This knowledge is a bit more tangible.

If "saber" means "to know something with your head", then conocer might mean something more like "to have learned of something via experience".

For example:

How to conjugate conocer in the present tense

Conocer is also irregular, but only in the yo (I) form. The rest of the conjugation follows regular -er verb patterns.

Here’s how conocer looks in the present tense:

What’s the difference between saber and conocer in Spanish?

Both verbs mean “to know,” but they cannot be used interchangeably. Each one is used to talk about knowing different types of things.

In other words, your choice of saber vs conocer depends on what you know and how you know it.

➡️ Use saber to:

Talk about facts or knowing how to do something.

Again, notice how all of this is "knowledge" stuff that you can objectively know and that may not exist anywhere except in your head.

➡️ Use conocer to:

Talk about people, places, or things you’re familiar with.

Here, notice how we're often talking about something that actually exists in a concrete sentence—whereas you know in your head that 2+2 is 4 (saber), you very well may have spent time living in Madrid or being friends with someone's sister (conocer).

How the meaning of saber and conocer change in the past tense (+conjugations)

We're not going to walk through every verb tense—that would be a really long post—but it's worth looking at the simple past tense (el pretérito) specifically. In this tense, the meaning of both saber, and conocer change in ways that can trip up learners—especially if you’re still trying to wrap your head around how they work in the present tense.

While the basic "saber for facts, conocer for things" difference persists in the simple past tense, there's also an additional nuance: we're now talking about the point at which we transitioned from not knowing to knowing.

Saber as “to find out” (not just “to know”)

When used in the past tense, saber refers to the moment someone learned or discovered something. It marks the point at which you obtained some sort of knowledge.

Now, let’s take a closer look at how saber is conjugated in the past tense.

Conocer as “to meet” (not just “to know” someone)

When used in the past tense, conocer means that someone met another person for the first time. It marks the moment of the first encounter between two parties.

Now, let’s see how conocer is conjugated in the past tense.

Saber vs conocer: What learners get wrong 

It’s easy to get saber and conocer mixed up, especially if you’re translating directly from English. As you consume more Spanish media, you'll eventually develop a more intuitive feel for what these Spanish words mean and when each should be used...

but, for now, here are two common mistakes Spanish learners often make—and how to fix them.

Mistake 1: Using "conocer" for facts or information

As mentioned above:Conocer isn’t used for things you know in your head, like facts, trivia, or things you've memorized. That’s what saber is for.

Mistake 2: Using saber for people or places

You can’t saber a person or a place. If you’re talking about meeting or being familiar with someone or somewhere, you need conocer.

Mistake 3: Using saber to talk about familiarity or experience

This one is actually sort of contained within the above point, but since "heard of" and "familiar with" are common English expressions, it's worth being clear: conocer is usually the better option to translate these phrases.

This kind of mistake usually occurs when you're translating directly from English. To avoid it, do your best to stop for a moment and decide if you're talking about a fact or about being familiar with something.

[Video example] One beautiful phrase you should remember

So, you're on YouTube binging telénovelas of questionable quality, such as this one, and your guilty pleasure turns useful because you stumble into this incredibly instructive sentence:

Now, that's beautiful. It's a single sentence that uses both saber and conocer:

Now, what he says he learned is actually quite vulgar, so we'll skip that. (Go check out our article on Spanish swear words, you dawg.) What he said in particular doesn't really matter. He could have learned anything. The point is just that if you remember this phrase, you'll have a small test you can use to decide if you should use conocer or saber in a particular situation.

With Migaku, remembering the phrase is easy. Just click that orange button in the top-right corner of the popup dictionary, and we'll yoink some stuff from the video to make a flashcard like this one:

From here, we employ a spaced-repetition algorithm to periodically nudge you to remember this (and any other phrases you've learned). Eventually, it'll just stick.

It's that simple, it's kind of beautiful, and you can try it free for ten days:

Now you "conocer a" these Spanish verbs, and you "saber" how to use them! Nice!

We've said it about thirty-seven times this article, but here it is once more for good measure:

For now, that's unfortunately a set of rules you'll just have to remember. Know that it won't always be that way, though. If you consume enough Spanish media, this is something you'll eventually feel—you'll have heard people say conocí a (so and so) en... a million times, but never supe a (so and so)—and, as a result, it'll begin feeling a little weird to use "saber" to talk about knowing people.

¡Buena suerte! And enjoy the process.