kennen

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See also: kënnen

Cornish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From kenn (peel, scum, skin) +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

  • (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA(key):

Noun

kennen m (plural kennow)

  1. film, membrane

Mutation

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch kennen, from Old Dutch kennen, from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɛnə(n)/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: ken‧nen
  • Rhymes: -ɛnən

Verb

kennen

  1. (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.
  2. (auxiliary, colloquial, dialectal) Synonym of kunnen

Inflection

Inflection of kennen (weak)
infinitive kennen
past singular kende
past participle gekend
infinitive kennen
gerund kennen n
present tense past tense
1st person singular ken kende
2nd person sing. (jij) kent kende
2nd person sing. (u) kent kende
2nd person sing. (gij) kent kende
3rd person singular kent kende
plural kennen kenden
subjunctive sing.1 kenne kende
subjunctive plur.1 kennen kenden
imperative sing. ken
imperative plur.1 kent
participles kennend gekend
1) Archaic.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Afrikaans: ken
  • Negerhollands: ken

See also

German

Etymology

From Middle High German kennen, from Old High German kennan, from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan (to know), from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (to know), a causative form of *kunnaną formed with the suffix *-janą.

Cognate to Bavarian kennan, Dutch kennen, Scots and English ken (to know).

Pronunciation

Verb

kennen (irregular weak, third-person singular present kennt, past tense kannte, past participle gekannt, past subjunctive kennte, auxiliary haben)

  1. (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.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

  • kennen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • kennen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • kennen” in Duden online
  • kennen” in OpenThesaurus.de

Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon *kennian, from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan (to know). Cognate with German and Dutch kennen, English ken.

Pronunciation

Verb

kennen

  1. (transitive) to know (someone); to be acquainted with
  2. (transitive) to know (some fact); to have knowledge of

Conjugation

Synonyms

Derived terms

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German kennen, from Old High German *kennen, from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną. Cognate with German kennen, Dutch kennen, English ken.

Pronunciation

Verb

kennen (third-person singular present kennt, past participle kannt, auxiliary verb hunn)

  1. (transitive) to know

Conjugation

Regular
infinitive kennen
participle kannt
auxiliary hunn
present
indicative
imperative
1st singular kennen
2nd singular kenns kenn
3rd singular kennt
1st plural kennen
2nd plural kennt kennt
3rd plural kennen
(n) or (nn) indicates the Eifeler Regel.

Derived terms

Maltese

Root
k-n-n
4 terms

Etymology

From Arabic كَنَّنَ (kannana).

Pronunciation

Verb

kennen (imperfect jkennen, past participle mkennen)

  1. to shelter, provide shelter for

Conjugation

    Conjugation of kennen
singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
perfect m kennint kennint kennen kenninna kennintu kennu
f kennet
imperfect m nkennen tkennen jkennen nkennu tkennu jkennu
f tkennen
imperative kennen kennu

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch kennen, from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-.

Verb

kennen

  1. to know, to be familiar with
  2. to recognise, to know who/what someone/something is
  3. to recognise, to acknowledge (a fact)
  4. to admit
  5. to consider (to be)
  6. to establish (as fact)

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Further reading

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English cennan, from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną.

Pronunciation

Verb

kennen

  1. to make known

Conjugation

Descendants

References

Mòcheno

Etymology

From Middle High German kennen, from Old High German kennan, from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (to make known). Cognate to German kennen, Scots ken.

Verb

kennen

  1. to know, be familiar with

References

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną.

Verb

kennen

  1. to know, to be aware of

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Further reading

  • kennen”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012