What is the difference between saber and conocer?

Both verbs mean "to know", but saber is for facts and skills, while conocer is for being familiar with people, places and things. Sé la respuesta (I know the answer) is a fact. Conozco a Ana (I know Ana) is familiarity. English lumps them together, which is why this trips people up.

Saber: knowing information

Use saber for facts, things you've learned, and how to do something.

• Facts: Sé que vive en Chile. (I know that he lives in Chile.)
• Information: No sé dónde está. (I don't know where it is.)
• How to do something: Sé nadar. (I know how to swim.) Ella sabe cocinar. (She knows how to cook.)
• Question words: ¿Sabes cuánto cuesta? (Do you know how much it costs?)

Notice there's no cómo needed for skills. Sé tocar la guitarra already means "I know how to play guitar".

Conocer: knowing someone or something

Use conocer for people, places and things you're familiar with through experience:

• People: Conozco a tu hermano. (I know your brother.)
• Places: Conocemos Barcelona. (We know Barcelona.)
• Things: ¿Conoces esta canción? (Do you know this song?)
• Meeting for the first time: Mucho gusto en conocerte. (Nice to meet you.)

With people, conocer takes the personal a (Conozco a Marta), which is covered in the personal a.

Quick comparison

	saber	conocer
Knows...	facts, skills	people, places, things
Followed by	que, a question word, or an infinitive	a noun
Example	Sé que es médico.	Conozco al médico.

Sé que es médico (I know that he's a doctor) vs Conozco al médico (I know the doctor, I'm acquainted with him). Different things entirely.

A simple test

Ask what comes after "know" in English:

• "I know that..." or "I know how to..." means saber.
• "I know someone / somewhere" means conocer.

Still unsure? Try "be familiar with". If it fits, you probably want conocer.

How they change in the past

In the preterite, both verbs shift to mean something a bit more specific, because the preterite marks a moment:

• Conocí a Pablo en 2020. (I met Pablo in 2020.)
• Supe la verdad ayer. (I found out the truth yesterday.)

In the imperfect they keep the plain meaning: Conocía a Pablo (I knew Pablo) and Sabía la verdad (I knew the truth). This is one of the clearest examples of how the preterite and imperfect change meaning.

Common mistakes

• Using conocer for facts: Conozco que viene is wrong. Say Sé que viene.
• Using saber for people: Sé a Ana is wrong. Say Conozco a Ana.
• Forgetting the irregular yo forms: sé (not sabo) and conozco (not conoco).

How to remember them

I wouldn't memorize the difference as a rule. I'd memorize a handful of anchors: no sé (I don't know), sé que (I know that), conozco a (I know [a person]), mucho gusto en conocerte. When you hear them enough in real Spanish, the choice starts to feel obvious.

Stories are a good place to collect those anchors. In Langtok, the app I built, you can tap any word in a short story to check it, so you see sé and conozco used in actual sentences and not just on a chart.