A heading like that can make anyone feel dizzy, especially the students whose native language is English. While the French, Italians, Germans or Spanish find it fairly easy to choose the right verb (WIEDZIEĆ or ZNAĆ), the English speakers find it really hard and they constantly confuse the two words.
WIEDZIEĆ or ZNAĆ? THAT IS THE QUESTION
In fact, there’s a simple way to explain the differences in the use of the two words. Look at the exaples below, what do you see?
Znam Warszawę/ Martę/ Adama/ tę książkę/ was/ twoich rodziców /Polskę/ język polski.
Wiem, gdzie leży Warszawa/ kim jest Marta/ jaki jest Adam/ kto napisał tę książkę/
jak nazywają się twoi rodzice/ jak jest po polsku...
Take a closer look at the structures the verbs are followed by. The verb ZNAĆ is followed by a noun. Remember to put the noun in the accusative case if you use the verb in a statement (positive sentence). The verb WIEDZIEĆ, on the other hand, requires the presence of interrogative, relative or indefinite pronouns, such as kto – co – gdzie – kiedy – jak – jaki/a/e – and so on, depending on the context.
CONJUGATION TRAPS
When using the verbs WIEDZIEĆ and ZNAĆ you should remember about the unusual endings in the 3rd person of singular form in the present tense. You can refer to a website with Polish conjugation. And do not forget the unusual conjugation of WIEDZIEĆ in the past tense.
And? Do you know now how to use the verbs? Do you know how they are used?
