Saber and Conocer in the Spanish Past Tenses

Saber and Conocer in the Spanish Past Tenses

Did you know that the Spanish verbs Saber and Conocer change meaning in the past tenses?

That’s right! If you’ve been studying Spanish for a bit you know that both these verbs mean “to know”. Saber is used to express knowledge about information, facts, and new learning, how to do something while Conocer is used to express “knowing” a person or a place, such as having visited a city or a restaurant and being familiar with that place.

HOWEVER, when using Saber and Conocer in the preterite and imperfect past tenses, these meanings change drastically.

In this Spanish quick tip lesson, we are diving into the different meanings of Saber and Conocer in the past tenses.

And if you’re interested in digging deeper into the preterite and imperfect past tenses and learning more verbs that change meaning, don’t miss our upcoming Spanish Workshop on the past tenses: el pretérito vs. el imperfecto.

Watch the lesson to learn more about how to use Saber and Conocer in the imperfect and preterite past tenses in Spanish.

In very general terms, here is when we use the preterite and the imperfect past tenses.

El pretérito is used for completed actions in the past that have no definite time frame associated. And El imperfecto is used for ongoing actions in the past, usually (but not always!) corresponding to “used to” or “was doing” in English.

Let’s look at some examples…

I met my best friend when we were studying in high school.

When I was little I didn’t know how to swim, but last year, I finally learned!

The verb Saber in the preterite and imperfect past

Saber is a verb that changes meaning in the preterite. In general, it means to know information, knowledge or facts or how to do something. However, in the preterite, this meaning often changes to discovered, found out, or realized. Here’s an example where we use saber in both the preterite and imperfect in the same sentence and you can see the different significances.

All of a sudden, she realized she didn’t know how to get there.

In a specific moment, she didn’t have the information, so she discovered or realized she didn’t know how to get there. On the other hand, she didn’t have the knowledge on how to get to where she wanted to go. She used to know, but then realized she didn’t, so the imperfect past tense is used instead of the preterit past.

Conocer in the preterite and imperfect past

Conocer is a verb that also changes meaning in the preterite. In general, it means to meet or know a person, place or thing. However, in the preterite, the meaning changes; when referring to a person it means met. And when it refers to a place, it means the first time at that place or the first time you become familiar with something. Here is another contrasting example:

She got lost on her way to my house, but she met a guy, and that guy, I knew him from work.

In the first case, she met him or came to know him for the first time, so it is in the preterit tense. In the second case, it’s the imperfect past because I used to know him from work. So, while Saber and Conocer are verbs that change meanings slightly in the preterite, they still follow the same logic as to when to use them in the past tenses in Spanish. In the imperfect, there is no defined time frame. In the preterite, it absolutely has to be a definite moment.

Want more practice?!

Download the free Saber vs. Conocer exercise workshop to practice these two verbs in the past tenses in Spanish.

And if you’re curious about the past tenses and the Preterite and Imperfect verbs, join the next Spanish Workshop to learn how to use the past tenses in Spanish! In this workshop, CGI teachers dive deep into when and how to use el pretérito vs. el imperfecto, including other confusing verbs like Saber and Conocer that change meanings in the past.

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¡Te toca a ti! Let’s practice…Answer one of the prompts in the comments below:

  • When did you meet your significant other?
  • What did you know how to do as a child?
  • The first time you traveled to Latin America, what did you discover, what did you already know?
  • When did you realize you wanted to learn Spanish?

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