{"id":4735,"date":"2021-08-27T12:17:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T12:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/?p=4735"},"modified":"2021-08-27T12:17:16","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T12:17:16","slug":"conocer-conjugation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/conocer-conjugation\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Know You: A Guide to the \u201cConocer\u201d Conjugation in Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What would you do if you met the love of your life, but couldn\u2019t speak their language? How would you know what to say to them, or what to do when you met their family or their friends? Don\u2019t panic! In today\u2019s guide, we\u2019re going to go over the Spanish verb \u201cconocer\u201d<\/strong>, meaning \u201cto meet<\/em>\u201d or \u201cto know<\/em>\u201d, so that if you encounter a special someone who speaks Spanish, you can navigate meeting <\/em>them with confidence! By the end of this article, you will have a very solid foundation of conocer <\/strong>conjugation at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something in here for everyone, and I even threw in a bonus section in case you\u2019re already an expert!<\/p>\n

<\/a>What Kind of Verb is Conocer<\/em>?<\/h2>\n

I get it. If you were to rely entirely on our articles, you\u2019d think that every verb in Spanish is irregular, and irregular means hard to learn<\/em>. Well, unfortunately you\u2019re out of luck, because conocer <\/strong>is irregular too. But don\u2019t worry, it won\u2019t be that complicated, and it certainly won\u2019t be painful.<\/p>\n

The trick is to understand what irregular verbs are, so let\u2019s start with that: In Spanish, there are three possible types of verb endings: ar <\/strong>(Like ganar<\/strong>, to win<\/em>), er <\/strong>(like creer<\/strong>, to believe\/think<\/em>), and ir<\/strong> (like compartir<\/strong>, to share<\/em>). Everything that comes before ar, er, <\/strong>or ir <\/strong>is referred to as the \u201cverb stem\u201d. In regular verb conjugation, the verb stem never changes no matter what tense or subject the verb is being conjugated with.<\/p>\n

For example, the verb comer <\/strong>is regular because no matter how it\u2019s conjugated, the stem of the verb always remains \u201ccom-<\/strong>\u201c (For example: yo como, el\/ella come, nosotros comemos\u2026etc)<\/strong>. On the other hand, verbs are considered irregular when their stem does change depending on tense and subject. In conocer<\/strong>\u2019s case, for instance, the correct conjugation for the first person in the present tense is \u201cyo conozco<\/strong>\u201d. Whilst these different rules might seem a bit complicated at first, this guide has complete tables for conocer <\/strong>conjugation, so that you can learn them by heart quickly and easily. With just a little practice, you\u2019ll be able to navigate irregular verbs effortlessly.<\/p>\n

If you want more practice with irregular verbs, please consider reading other articles we\u2019ve got on the blog, like for the verbs preferir <\/strong>(to prefer<\/em><\/a>) or seguir <\/strong>(to follow\/to continue<\/em>)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The Different Meanings of Conocer<\/em><\/h2>\n

One thing it is worth knowing before we actually get to conocer conjugation is the subtle differences in meaning that exist when using this verb. As I mentioned before, conocer <\/strong>means both \u201cto meet<\/em>\u201d and \u201cto know<\/em>\u201d. For instance, you use it to refer to meeting <\/em>someone new, like in the sentence \u201cHoy conoc\u00ed a Daniel<\/strong>\u201d which means \u201cI met Daniel today\u201d<\/em>. However, conocer <\/strong>is also used to refer to knowing someone or something<\/em>. For example, if you want to ask someone if they know The Beatles, you would say: \u201c\u00bfConoces a los Beatles?<\/strong>\u201d. As you can see, it\u2019s relatively straightforward: we use the verb conocer when we refer to meeting someone new<\/em>, or knowing someone or something<\/em>.<\/p>\n

However, it is also worth considering that, in Spanish, we don\u2019t use the verb conocer<\/strong> to meet as in \u201cget together\u201d. Conocer <\/strong>only refers to meeting someone for the first <\/em>time. So, for instance, if what you wanted to say was \u201cI met my friend Lucy for coffee\u201d<\/em>, you would actually use the verb \u201csalir<\/strong>\u201d (to go out<\/em>), about which you can read more here<\/a>, or \u201cjuntar\u201d<\/strong> (to join)<\/em>. This is what the correct sentence would look like in Spanish: \u201cHoy sal\u00ed con Lucy a tomar caf\u00e9\u201d, <\/strong>or \u201cHoy me junt\u00e9 con Lucy para tomar caf\u00e9\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve gone over these tips, keep them in mind, as you\u2019ll notice you probably won\u2019t be using the verb conocer <\/strong>as often as you\u2019d think (unless you meet lots of new people all the time, in which case, good for you!)<\/p>\n

<\/a>Conocer<\/em> Verbals<\/h2>\n

Now, let\u2019s do some actual conocer <\/strong>conjugation! Starting with verbals. Verbals can seem a little bit complicated, which is why I always like to put them first because, despite their name, verbals happen when verbs that don\u2019t act like verbs <\/strong>in a sentence. Instead, they act as adverbs, nouns, or adjectives. Usually, this is because there is a different active verb in the sentence. The verbals we\u2019ll look at for conocer <\/strong>are: el infinitivo <\/strong>(the infinitive), <\/em>el gerundio <\/strong>(the gerund)<\/em>, and el participio <\/strong>(the participle)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Infinitivo (infinitive)<\/em><\/h3>\n

The infinitive <\/em>verbal of conocer <\/strong>is just \u201cconocer\u201d<\/strong>. The reason for this is that the infinitive form of a verb is its basic unconjugated form, so we can use it when conocer <\/strong>isn\u2019t the active verb in the sentence.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n