Swedish: Känna vs. vet (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Swedish: Känna vs. vet
Tags: Meaning of words \| Swedish \| Vocabulary learning
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

9 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

Impiegato
Triglot
Senior Member
Sweden
bsntranslation.
Joined 5432 days ago
100 posts - 145 votes

Speaks: Swedish*, English, Italian
Studies: Spanish, French, Russian

Message 9 of 9

26 January 2010 at 10:54pm | IP Logged

Tyr wrote:

I've heard of kan being used when you know people rather than other things, at first I thought it was just meant for knowing people since all else used vet but then I heard so many using kan- it confused me at first as I forgot ä makes k sh.

Vet du om Jessica- to me this reads like do you know about Jessica. Like if you were talking to a friend about her and saying 'do you know what she did (presumably recently and shockingly)' But its totally wrong huh?...hmm

One example where this came up that I remember was roughly like-
Someone: Blah blah blah xxxxxx blah blah (In Swedish)
Me: Sorry? Jag vet inte xxxxxx. Vad heter xxxxxx i Engelska
S: Du känna inte xxxxxx?
Me: ...errr.....yeah, jag känna inte det.

So känna is totally the right word to use in instances of possessing knowledge whilst vet is asking about solid facts?

No, because "känna" corresponds to the English word "feel" in most cases, apart from when talking about a person. Then, "känna" corresponds to "know". Ex:
Do you know Peter? = "Känner du Peter?" (in this case, it is about a person)
Do you feel the dog's fur? "Känner du hundens päls?" (here it is an animal near the skin, i e you feel something physically). Another example: Do you feel the pressure? "Känner du trycket?"

We should also introduce the difference between VETA and KUNNA. Examples:
Do you speak French? "Kan du franska?" (you cannot say "Vet du franska?")
Do you know the name of the largest lake in the UK? "Vet du vad Storbritanniens största sjö heter?" or "Kan du namnet på Storbritanniens största sjö?" - Both are possible.

Consequently, it seems like it is only OK to use "kan" when talking about languages, but as for geographic information both "kan" and "vet" are possible.

We can extend this to other contexts later if you are interested.

By the way, this was your example:
"Me: ...errr.....yeah, jag känna inte det."
You have to conjugate the verb "känna" like this (since it is the present tense):
"Me: ...errr.....yeah, jag KÄNNER inte det."

Edited by Impiegato on 26 January 2010 at 10:57pm

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