kennen

See also: kënnen

Cornish

Alternative forms

  • (Revived Late Cornish) kednen

Etymology

From kenn (peel, scum, skin) + -en.

Pronunciation

  • (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA(key): [kɛnːɛn]

Noun

kennen m (plural kennow)

  1. film, membrane

Mutation

Dutch

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

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
Conjugation
Conjugation of kennen (weak)
infinitive kennen
past singular kende
past participle gekend
infinitive kennen
gerund kennen n
present tense past tense
1st person singular kenkende
2nd person sing. (jij) kentkende
2nd person sing. (u) kentkende
2nd person sing. (gij) kentkende
3rd person singular kentkende
plural kennenkenden
subjunctive sing.1 kennekende
subjunctive plur.1 kennenkenden
imperative sing. ken
imperative plur.1 kent
participles kennendgekend
1) Archaic.
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Afrikaans: ken
  • Negerhollands: ken
See also

Verb

kennen

  1. (dialectal) Alternative form of kunnen

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

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɛnən/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • (file)

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:
      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.
      The abolition of this sloppy [pronunciation of Ancient Greek] I will probably never witness, not even should Plato himself rise from the ashes to teach to the German pedagogues the correct pronunciation. They would show him that he was mistaken: that he must have forgotten the correct pronunciation in the more than two millennia following his death, but that they, the German head teachers and principals, knew exactly what it was like: precisely the same as the New High German of the 20th century.

Conjugation

Derived 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

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɛnnən/

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

  • IPA(key): /ˈkænən/
  • Rhymes: -ænən

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

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɛn.nɛn/

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

  • kennen”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “kennen”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɛnən/

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
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