Knowing: znati, poznavati, umjeti | Croatian Grammar

English uses one verb, know, for three quite different ideas: knowing a fact ("I know that he's coming"), being acquainted with someone or someplace ("I know Marko," "I know Zagreb"), and having a learned skill ("I know how to swim"). Croatian, like German (wissen / kennen / können) and French (savoir / connaître / savoir-faire), pulls these apart with separate verbs: znati for facts and know-how, poznavati for acquaintance, and umjeti for skill. The reliable English-speaker mistake is using znati for a person — Znam Marka — which to a Croatian ear says "I know of Marko / a fact about him," not "I'm acquainted with him." This page fixes the fact-vs-acquaintance line and slots in the skill verb.

znati: facts and know-how

znati covers two of the three meanings. First, knowing a fact — followed by an object (Znam odgovor "I know the answer") or, very often, by a da-clause or an indirect question (Znam da dolazi "I know he's coming"; Znam tko je on "I know who he is").

Person	znati (present)
ja	znam
ti	znaš
on/ona/ono	zna
mi	znamo
vi	znate
oni/one/ona	znaju

Znam da dolazi sutra, rekla mi je.

I know he's coming tomorrow, she told me. — fact, with a da-clause.

Znaš li odgovor na treće pitanje?

Do you know the answer to the third question? — fact, with an object 'odgovor'.

Ne znam gdje su mi ključevi.

I don't know where my keys are. — fact, with an indirect question.

Second, znati covers know-how — a learned skill — with an infinitive: Znam plivati ("I know how to swim"), Znam voziti ("I can drive"). English says "I can swim," but the claim is about having learned the skill, so Croatian uses znati, not moći.

Znam plivati otkad sam bila mala.

I've known how to swim since I was little. (female speaker) — skill, infinitive 'plivati'.

Znaš li kuhati ili samo grijati gotovo?

Do you know how to cook, or just heat up ready meals? — skill.

For the contrast between this skill znati and moći ("be able right now") / smjeti ("be allowed"), see ability and permission. The short version: Znam plivati = "I have the swimming skill"; Mogu plivati = "I'm able to swim in this situation now."

poznavati: being acquainted

poznavati (imperfective) / poznati / upoznati (perfective) means to be acquainted with a person, a place, or a body of work — to have personal, direct familiarity. This is the verb for "I know Marko," "Do you know Zagreb?", "She knows Krleža's work well."

Person	poznavati (present)
ja	poznajem
ti	poznaješ
on/ona/ono	poznaje
mi	poznajemo
vi	poznajete
oni/one/ona	poznaju

Poznajem Marka još iz škole.

I've known Marko since school. — acquaintance with a person (accusative 'Marka').

Poznaješ li Zagreb? Možeš li me provesti?

Do you know Zagreb? Could you show me around? — acquaintance with a place.

Dobro poznaje Krležino djelo.

She knows Krleža's work well. — acquaintance with a body of work.

Note the related perfective upoznati ("to get to know / to meet"): Drago mi je što smo se upoznali ("Nice to have met you"). The imperfective poznavati describes the standing state of acquaintance; the perfective marks the moment you became acquainted.

Upoznao sam je na konferenciji prošle godine.

I met her at a conference last year. — perfective 'upoznati', the moment of meeting.

The decisive contrast: fact vs acquaintance

Now the line that English blurs. Compare:

Znam tko je on.

I know who he is. — a FACT about his identity (znati).

Poznajem ga.

I know him. — I'm ACQUAINTED with him (poznavati).

You can perfectly well say Znam tko je on, ali ga ne poznajem — "I know who he is, but I don't know him personally." The first clause is a fact; the second is acquaintance. English needs the whole phrase "know him personally" to make the split that Croatian carries in the verb choice itself.

Znam tko je ona, ali je nikad nisam upoznala.

I know who she is, but I've never actually met her. — fact (znam) vs acquaintance (upoznala).

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The rule of thumb: a person or place takes poznavati; a fact, a clause, or a skill takes znati. Poznajem Anu = "I know Ana (we're acquainted)." Znam da je Ana ovdje = "I know that Ana is here." If you can rephrase the English as "I know that…" or "I know how to…", use znati; if it's "I know someone / somewhere", use poznavati.

What happens if you break this rule? Saying Znam Marka is not gibberish, but it shifts the meaning: it reads as "I know of Marko" — I can recognise the name, I know some fact about him — rather than "Marko and I are acquainted." For genuine acquaintance you must say Poznajem Marka. See also znati vs poznavati for a focused decision guide.

umjeti: the skill verb

umjeti means "to know how / to be able (by skill)." It overlaps with the know-how use of znati and is interchangeable with it for learned abilities: Umijem plivati = Znam plivati.

Person	umjeti (present)
ja	umijem
ti	umiješ
on/ona/ono	umije
mi	umijemo
vi	umijete
oni/one/ona	umiju

Umijem kuhati, ali ne baš dobro.

I know how to cook, but not very well. — skill, 'umjeti' + infinitive.

Ona umije slušati, to je rijetka vrlina.

She knows how to listen — that's a rare virtue. — skill / capacity.

Ne umijem to objasniti riječima.

I can't put that into words. — lacking the knack/skill.

In everyday Croatian, znati is the more frequent choice for concrete skills (Znam plivati sounds completely natural and is more common than Umijem plivati). Umjeti leans slightly toward an innate knack or a more abstract "knowing how" — umjeti slušati ("to know how to listen"), umjeti čekati ("to know how to wait"). For practical purposes, treat them as near-synonyms for skills, with znati the safer default.

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For a learned, concrete skill — swimming, driving, cooking — both znati and umjeti work, but reach for znati first; it's the more common and never sounds odd. Save umjeti for the more abstract "having the knack" (umjeti slušati, umjeti se nositi s problemima — "to know how to cope").

All three at a glance

English "know"	Croatian	What it covers	Example
know a fact	znati	facts, da-clauses, indirect questions	Znam da dolazi.
know how to	znati / umjeti	a learned skill	Znam / Umijem plivati.
know someone/somewhere	poznavati	acquaintance	Poznajem Marka.
get to know / meet	upoznati	the moment of becoming acquainted	Upoznao sam je.

A note: do not confuse any of these with razumjeti ("to understand"). Znam is "I know (the fact)"; Razumijem is "I understand (I follow the reasoning)." Znam što je rekao, ali ne razumijem zašto — "I know what he said, but I don't understand why." See razumjeti.

Common Mistakes

❌ Znam Marka, idemo zajedno na fakultet.

Misleading — 'Znam Marka' reads as 'I know of Marko'; for acquaintance use 'poznavati'.

✅ Poznajem Marka, idemo zajedno na fakultet.

I know Marko, we go to uni together. — acquaintance with a person.

❌ Poznajem da dolazi sutra.

Wrong — a fact / da-clause never takes 'poznavati'.

✅ Znam da dolazi sutra.

I know he's coming tomorrow. — facts take 'znati'.

❌ Poznaješ li plivati?

Wrong — a skill never takes 'poznavati'.

✅ Znaš li plivati?

Do you know how to swim? — skills take 'znati' (or 'umjeti').

❌ Znam Zagreb jako dobro, pokazat ću ti grad.

Off — 'Znam Zagreb' suggests facts about it; familiarity with a place is 'poznavati'.

✅ Poznajem Zagreb jako dobro, pokazat ću ti grad.

I know Zagreb really well, I'll show you the city. — acquaintance with a place.

Key Takeaways

znati = a fact (Znam da dolazi; Znam odgovor) or a skill (Znam plivati).
poznavati = being acquainted with a person, place, or work (Poznajem Marka; Poznajem Zagreb); perfective upoznati = "get to know / meet."
umjeti = a skill too (Umijem kuhati), overlapping znati; prefer znati for concrete skills, umjeti for abstract know-how.
The English-speaker trap: Znam Marka sounds like "I know of Marko" — for real acquaintance say Poznajem Marka.
Don't confuse these with razumjeti ("to understand"): Znam što je rekao, ali ne razumijem zašto.

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