Conjugation of conèixer

Conèixer means “to know” through acquaintance or familiarity: one can conèixer una persona, una ciutat, una obra or un tema. In a bounded perfective past it commonly means “meet” or “become acquainted with.” Facts and learned skills generally select saber, a contrast developed on saber versus conèixer.

The verb is irregular, but its forms fall into a small family: conec – coneixia – coneguí – coneixeré – conegui – conegués – conegut. The visible stems conec-, coneix-, conegu- and coneixer- recur predictably. The infinitive accent belongs to conèixer because its stem is stressed; it disappears in future coneixeré, where stress moves to the ending.

Nonfinite forms

After haver, the participle is normally invariable: les hem conegut avui still has conegut. Agreeing coneguda is adjectival or passive: una escriptora molt coneguda. The gerund has no written accent and preserves coneix-.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Present conec ends in -c; it is not coneixo and never takes incoative -eix- as a detachable extension. The identical form coneix is third-person present in ella coneix el barri and second-person imperative in coneix primer el barri; syntax disambiguates it. In the perfective past, acquaintance often gains an entry-point reading: la vaig conèixer a Olot means “I met her in Olot.” The imperfect la coneixia presents an existing relationship: “I knew her.” The synthetic past is (formal/literary) in much Central usage, with regional spoken continuity.

Compound tenses

The past anterior is (formal/literary). The periphrastic equivalent is vaig haver conegut, vas haver conegut, va haver conegut, vam haver conegut, vau haver conegut, van haver conegut. Its aspect can still favor an initial encounter rather than a long-standing state.

Subjunctive and imperative

These periphrastic subjunctives are (regional/formal). Present conegui and imperfect conegués expose the reusable velar stem conegu- described on the velar-stem page.

Objects, pronominal uses, and regional standards

Conèixer is transitive. In the neutral postverbal pattern, it takes a person directly, without an automatic Spanish-style personal a: conec la directora. Catalan does use a with some human direct objects—notably strong personal pronouns and certain ambiguity-avoiding orders—but not merely because the object is human; see the limited personal a. A definite direct object becomes el, la, els, or les: la conec bé. Places, texts, languages, procedures, and professional fields can all be direct objects when familiarity is meant. Conèixer de vista, conèixer a fons, and donar a conèixer are characteristic collocations.

Pronominal conèixer-se can be reflexive (cal conèixer-se un mateix) or reciprocal (ens coneixem des de l'escola). It is a real pronominal construction, not a free variant of transitive conèixer. In the perfect, the clitic stands before haver: ens hem conegut avui. For the event of first meeting, conèixer-se and transitive conèixer algú differ in viewpoint but can describe the same encounter.

The verb is not defective. Its irregularity is stem selection, not missing forms. It is also not incoative: present coneixes contains the lexical sequence -eix-, but that spelling is not the productive incoative extension found in verbs such as servir. This distinction prevents invented forms such as coneixeixo.

(Regional: Valencian) the infinitive is normally written conéixer and the present subjunctive is conega, conegues, conega, coneguem, conegueu, coneguen; imperfect coneguera... is standard. These are (formal AVL) forms. Central conèixer / conegui is the baseline here. Other dialects have systematic phonetic realizations, but the stem family remains recognizable.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

Anchor the paradigm with conec, coneix-, conegu-, coneixer- and conegut. Use conèixer for acquaintance and familiarity, with a direct object and no personal a. Preserve the distinction between nonpronominal conèixer algú and reflexive or reciprocal conèixer-se.