English uses one verb, know, for three quite different mental relationships: knowing a fact (I know that she's home), knowing how to do something (I know how to swim, I know Swedish), and knowing a person (I know Anna). Swedish, like German (wissen / können / kennen) and French (savoir / connaître), refuses to merge them. It has three verbs — veta, kunna, and känna — and using the wrong one is one of the most persistent beginner errors, because English gives you no warning that a choice is being made.
The three-way test
Ask what kind of "knowing" you mean:
- A fact, a piece of information — something you could state, often followed by that or a question word (who, where, why) → veta.
- A skill, an ability, or learned content — including a language → kunna.
- A person — being acquainted with them — or recognising something → känna.
| You mean… | Verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| know a FACT | veta | Jag vet var hon bor. |
| know a SKILL / language | kunna | Jag kan simma. / Jag kan svenska. |
| know a PERSON / recognise | känna | Jag känner Anna. |
veta: knowing a fact
Veta is information you hold in your head — facts, answers, news. It very often introduces a clause with att ("that") or a question word (var, vem, när, varför, hur). Its forms are irregular and worth memorising: present vet, past visste, supine vetat.
Vet du var hon bor?
Do you know where she lives? A fact you could state — veta (vet).
Jag vet att tåget går klockan tre.
I know that the train leaves at three. A fact introduced by att — veta.
Jag visste inte att du var sjuk, förlåt.
I didn't know you were ill, sorry. Past tense visste — still a fact.
A useful tell: you can often answer veta questions with a clause or a piece of data. "Do you know where she lives?" — "Yes, on Storgatan." That is veta territory.
kunna: knowing a skill — and a language
Kunna is the one that ambushes English speakers. Its core sense is "be able to / know how to", and it covers skills, abilities, and mastered content. Crucially, that includes languages and learned material: in Swedish you "can" a language. Jag kan svenska means "I know Swedish" — not "I can Swedish". Forms: present kan, past kunde, supine kunnat.
Kan du simma?
Can you swim? / Do you know how to swim? A skill — kunna.
Jag kan tyska men inte franska.
I know German but not French. Languages take kunna, never veta — 'I can German'.
Hon kan hela dikten utantill.
She knows the whole poem by heart. Mastered, learned content → kunna.
Notice that kunna here takes a direct object (svenska, tyska, dikten) with no infinitive after it — that is what distinguishes "to know a language/material" from the modal "can do X". Jag kan svenska ("I know Swedish") versus Jag kan prata svenska ("I can speak Swedish").
känna: knowing a person — and recognising
Känna (note the ä) is acquaintance and familiarity. You känner a person you've met, a place you're familiar with, or — with igen — you recognise something. It is also the verb for feeling (Jag känner mig trött, "I feel tired"), but in the "know" sense it means being acquainted. Forms: present känner, past kände, supine känt.
Känner du Anna? Hon jobbar på sjukhuset.
Do you know Anna? She works at the hospital. Acquaintance with a person — känna.
Vi känner varandra sedan barndomen.
We've known each other since childhood. Mutual acquaintance — känna.
Jag känner igen honom, men jag minns inte hans namn.
I recognise him, but I can't remember his name. känna igen = recognise.
A subtle but important contrast: Jag känner honom means "I know him" (we're acquainted), while Jag vet vem han är means "I know who he is" (I have the fact of his identity, perhaps without knowing him personally). English blurs these; Swedish keeps them apart.
Jag känner inte honom, men jag vet vem han är.
I don't know him, but I know who he is. känna (acquaintance) vs veta (fact) in one sentence.
How the three line up — and where English misleads
Here is the same trio of English sentences, each forcing a different Swedish verb:
| English | Swedish | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I know that it's true. | Jag vet att det är sant. | fact → veta |
| I know Swedish. | Jag kan svenska. | language → kunna |
| I know Maria. | Jag känner Maria. | person → känna |
If you've studied German or French, lean on the parallel: veta ≈ wissen / savoir (facts), känna ≈ kennen / connaître (acquaintance). The one place Swedish departs even from those is languages and skills, which go to kunna rather than to the wissen-type verb — so the German Ich kann Schwedisch matches Swedish Jag kan svenska exactly, but a French speaker used to Je sais nager must remember it is kunna in Swedish too.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag vet honom.
Incorrect — veta is for facts, not people. You can't 'know a fact' that is a person.
✅ Jag känner honom.
I know him. Acquaintance with a person → känna.
❌ Jag vet svenska.
Incorrect — languages are skills, not facts; veta never takes a language as object.
✅ Jag kan svenska.
I know Swedish. Languages and skills → kunna.
❌ Kan du var hon bor?
Incorrect — 'where she lives' is a fact, so it needs veta, not kunna.
✅ Vet du var hon bor?
Do you know where she lives? A fact → veta.
❌ Känner du att tåget är försenat?
Incorrect for 'do you know the train is delayed' — that's a fact, so veta; känna here would mean 'do you feel…'.
✅ Vet du att tåget är försenat?
Do you know the train is delayed? A fact → veta.
❌ Jag känner att svara på frågan.
Incorrect for 'I know how to answer the question' — that's an ability, so kunna.
✅ Jag kan svara på frågan.
I know how to answer the question. Ability → kunna.
Key Takeaways
- English's single know splits three ways in Swedish: veta (fact), kunna (skill/language), känna (person/recognise).
- veta — present vet, past visste, supine vetat — for facts, usually with att or a question word.
- kunna — present kan, past kunde, supine kunnat — for abilities and languages: Jag kan franska = "I know French".
- känna — present känner, past kände, supine känt (note the ä) — for being acquainted with people and känna igen "recognise".
- The two errors that mark a learner: veta for a person (Jag vet honom ✗) and veta for a language (Jag vet svenska ✗). Both should be känner / kan.
Now practice Swedish
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- kunna (can, be able to, know how)A2 — kunna (kan / kunde / kunnat) is Swedish 'can' — but it stretches further than English 'can'. It covers ability (Jag kan simma), possibility (Det kan regna), and — the part English splits off as a different verb — learned knowledge and skills, including languages: Jag kan svenska means 'I know Swedish', with no following verb at all. This page maps all three senses and warns you off the classic veta/kunna confusion.
- Irregular High-Frequency Verbs (vara, ha, göra, veta)A1 — A handful of everyday verbs are fully irregular and must be learned one by one: vara (är/var/varit), ha (har/hade/haft), göra (gör/gjorde/gjort), veta (vet/visste/vetat), säga (säger/sade~sa/sagt), lägga (lägger/lade~la/lagt), bli (blir/blev/blivit). These seven carry a huge share of all speech, so learn them first — including the present (är, not *varar; vet, not *vetar) and the colloquial sa/la pasts that dominate spoken Swedish.
- Misusing veta / kunna / kännaA2 — English has one verb 'know'; Swedish splits it three ways. veta is for facts (Jag vet var hon bor), kunna is for skills and learned knowledge — including languages (Jag kan svenska), and känna is for being acquainted with a person or place (Jag känner honom). The single most common error is using veta for a language (*Jag vet svenska) when it must be kunna, closely followed by veta for a person (*Jag vet honom) when it must be känna.
- veta (to know a fact)A2 — The verb veta means 'to know' in the sense of knowing a fact — note the double-s past visste. Swedish splits English 'know' three ways: veta for facts (Jag vet att...), kunna for skills and languages, känna for people. veta is only ever for propositions.