French word of the week: savoir

In today’s blog, we’re going to study a word which is both a verb and noun – savoir. To hear how to pronounce it correctly, have a listen to the audio clip:

Let’s begin by translating this word and looking at some more details about its function as a verb. While we will look at lots of different examples, the main English translation of the verb savoir is to know, but it can also mean to be able to.

The most basic form of a verb is the infinitive, which is exactly what savoir is. However, if you want to see all the different conjugated forms, you can check out our verb table of savoir.

Ready for some examples of how you might use this verb?

Nous savons que son premier film est sorti l’an dernier. We know that his first film came out last year.

Si on avait su que le pont était fermé, on aurait pris un autre chemin. If we had known that the bridge was closed, we would have taken another route.

Mes amies ne savaient pas les nouvelles. My friends hadn’t heard the news. / My friends didn’t know the news.

à savoir namely

Qui sait ? Who knows?

sans le savoir without knowing it

savoir par cœur to know off by heart

Je n’en sais rien. I don’t know anything about it.

Il faut que tu saches la vérité ! You need to know the truth!

Unfortunately for French learners, savoir has an irregular conjugation pattern. You might have noticed many different spellings across the forms in our examples above, as well as in the verb table. Savoir is also part of a small group of verbs which can be followed by another infinitive without a preposition. Here are a few examples:

Je ne sais pas nager et j’ai peur de l’eau. I can’t swim, and I’m scared of water.

Savez-vous faire des crêpes ? Do you know how to make crepes?

Il a su apporter une parapluie cet après-midi. He knew to bring an umbrella this afternoon.

To finish off, we’ll take a quick look at savoir as a masculine noun (a naming word). The noun translation is directly related to the verb translation, so it shouldn’t be too hard to remember what it means:

savoir (nm) knowledge

avoir un grand savoir to have a great deal of knowledge

savoir encyclopédique encyclopaedic knowledge

savoir-faire know-how (we also use the same French term in English without translating it)

Now that you know all about the word savoir, try using it in your everyday French, or while you practise. With a new word under your belt, you’re on the road to furthering your knowledge and vocabulary. See you here next week for another blog!

Written by Holly Tarbet, freelance copywriter and editor.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.