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(transitive) to know (a person, a thing), be acquainted with, to have knowledge of the properties of a particular person, object or concept, through personal experience, teaching, practice, or habit
Lars kent Emma, weet je dat? — Ja, ik weet dat Lars Emma kent.
Lars knows Emma, do you know? - Yes, I know that Lars knows Emma.
Ik ken Rusland niet, ik weet niets over dat land.
I don't know Russia, I don't know anything about that country.
Ik kan goed koken, maar de Indonesische keuken ken ik eigenlijk niet; ik weet niet eens hoe je nasi goreng klaarmaakt.
I know how to cook well, but I don't really know Indonesian cuisine; I don't even know how to prepare fried rice.
Ik spreek wel een beetje alledaags Frans, maar de Franse grammatica ken ik slecht.
I know a little colloquial French, but I know French grammar poorly.
(transitive) to know; to be acquainted with; to be familiar with
Usage notes
Although the senses of both kennen and wissen are covered by English “to know”, the two German verbs are only occasionally interchangeable. Only wissen is generally used with a following subclause (I know that..., how..., when..., etc.). With nouns the distinction may be more difficult. Wissen is used with facts and memorized information (“to be aware of”, French savoir), whereas kennen is used with concepts, ideas, backgrounds (“to be familiar with”, French connaître). Compare the following two sentences, both of which translate literally as “Do you know the street that he mentioned to us?”:
Kennst du die Straße, die er uns genannt hat? ― Are you familiar with the street? Have you been there before?
Weißt du die Straße, die er uns genannt hat? ― Do you know what street it was? Do you remember its name?
The past subjunctive kennte is highly literary or archaic. It should be used with some caution even in formal writing.
1887, Eduard Engel, Griechische Frühlingstage, 4th, purer edition, Radebeul bei Dresden: Haupt & Hammon, published 1927, page 361:
So, das sind die Entscheidungen der größten Gelehrten über die doch nicht ganz unwichtige Frage, wie eine der Sprachen auszusprechen sei, in der jahraus jahrein in Deutschland gutgezählte 50 000 junge Menschenkinder unterrichtet werden. Trotz jenen Entscheidungen ist natürlich noch lange nicht daran zu denken, daß dem Unfug einer als gänzlich falsch erkannten Aussprache des Griechischen ein Ende gesetzt wäre. Der Schlendrian wird auf diesem Gebiete des Schulwesens wohl ebenso lange dauern, wie auf vielen andern; denn bequem ist allerdings jener Schlendrian, nur wissenschaftlich ist er nicht, und unbrauchbar für das Leben ist er obendrein. Die Beseitigung des Schlendrians werde ich wohl nicht mehr erleben, auch dann nicht, wenn Plato selber aus der Asche auferstünde und die deutschen Schulmänner die richtige Aussprache lehrte. Sie würden ihm beweisen, daß er sich irre: er habe in den mehr als zwei Jahrtausenden seit seinem Tode gewiß die richtige Aussprache vergessen; sie aber, die deutschen Oberlehrer und Direktoren, kennten sie ganz genau: sie wäre buchstäblich so wie das Neuhochdeutsche des 20. Jahrhunderts gewesen.
So, these are the reckonings of the greatest scholars about the not quite insignificant question of how one of the languages, which is taught to about 50 000 young lads per annum, should be pronounced. In spite of these reckonings, by far it is not to think that this buffoonery of an utterly wrong pronunciation of Greek would come to an end. The litherness in this field of schooling will last as long as in many others; for convenient it is forsooth, but scientific it is not, and 'tis devoid of use for life as well. The elimination of this litherness I will not be an observer of in my lifetime, even if Plato himself were to rise from his ashes and teach the pedants the right pronunciation. They would shew him his being at fault: he surely has forgotten the right pronunciation; but they, the senior and head teachers, knew it very well; it would be literally like the New High German of the 20th century.