conocer
to know
To know a person or place through personal experience
Encoding Strategies:
linguistic
cognizant
aware / in the know
+
-er
verb suffix
Conocer means to know and sounds like the English word cognizant0 (aware, in the know0) turned into a verb1. When you're cognizant of something, you recognize it — you've experienced it personally. That's the most useful way to think about conocer: knowing through familiarity and experience, not knowing a fact.
conocer
to know, to be familiar with
To know a person or place through personal experience and familiarity.
- Conozco a tu amigo del colegio = I know your friend from school
- ¿Conoces Madrid? = Do you know Madrid? / Have you been to Madrid?
to meet (first encounter)
When you first become acquainted with someone, you are "knowing" them for the first time.
- ¿Dónde conociste a tu novio? = Where did you meet your boyfriend?
to know, to feel (to experience)
Just as you can be familiar with a person or place, you can be familiar with a feeling.
- Estos guerreros no conocen el miedo = These warriors feel no fear
conocerse
to know each other, to meet
When two people "know" each other, or first become acquainted.
- Se conocieron en un curso de inglés = They met in an English class
- Se conocen del colegio = They know each other from school
to know oneself (self-awareness)
To be cognitively aware of yourself — to truly "know" who you are.
- Me conozco mejor que nadie = I know myself better than anyone