Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

A successful matchmaker doesn't just do their job; they execute it with exceptional tact and skill. In German, to express that someone is highly capable of doing something or has a special knack for it, we can use the verb **wissen** (to know) combined with **zu** and an infinitive.

### The "wissen zu" Structure

While you normally use *können* to say someone "can" do something, using *wissen* + *zu* + infinitive translates closer to "knows how to" do something. It implies expertise, finesse, or a particular capability.

To use this structure, the conjugated verb *wissen* takes its normal second position in the sentence. The **zu** and the infinitive are pushed all the way to the very end. 

Let's see this in action at a dating agency (**die Partnervermittlung**) dealing with a client (**der Klient** / **die Klientin**).

{{item:885958}}

### Adding Details

Any other information—such as adverbs or direct objects—is placed in the middle of the sentence, between *wissen* and the *zu* + infinitive bracket at the end. 

For example, a matchmaker might need to be empathetic (**einfühlsam**) or arrange a blind date (**das Blind Date**).

{{item:885961}}

{{item:885964}}

They might also use tools like a questionnaire (**der Fragebogen**) to ask questions discreetly (**diskret**). Notice how all these details stack up before the final *zu* + infinitive.

{{item:885967}}

### Finding the Perfect Match

A skilled matchmaker is always looking for a commonality (**die Gemeinsamkeit**) between clients. Sometimes, the strongest bond is a shared aversion (**die Abneigung**) to something, like sports or small talk! 

{{item:885971}}

{{item:885975}}

Skilled actions (wissen zu)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the dating agency	die Partnervermittlung
to know how to (do something)	wissen
the male client	der Klient
The new dating agency knows how to convince the male client.	Die neue Partnervermittlung weiß den Klienten zu überzeugen.
empathetic	einfühlsam
the female client	die Klientin
She knows how to speak empathetically with the female client.	Sie weiß einfühlsam mit der Klientin zu sprechen.
the blind date	das Blind Date
to arrange (objects, music, events)	arrangieren
The expert knows how to arrange a romantic blind date.	Der Experte weiß ein romantisches Blind Date zu arrangieren.
the questionnaire	der Fragebogen
discreet	diskret
Based on the questionnaire, she knows how to ask discreetly.	Anhand des Fragebogens weiß sie diskret zu fragen.
the commonality	die Gemeinsamkeit
the aversion	die Abneigung
These two singles have one commonality: an aversion to sports.	Diese zwei Singles haben eine Gemeinsamkeit: die Abneigung gegen Sport.
Our dating agency knows how to find commonalities between the clients.	Unsere Partnervermittlung weiß Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen den Klienten zu finden.
The empathetic female client actually understands the aversion very well.	Die einfühlsame Klientin versteht die Abneigung doch sehr gut.
She means well and secretly wants to arrange a discreet blind date.	Sie meint es gut und will heimlich ein diskretes Blind Date arrangieren.
The female client's questionnaire is extremely long.	Der Fragebogen der Klientin ist extrem lang.
She knows how to ignore the male client's secret aversion.	Sie weiß die geheime Abneigung des Klienten zu ignorieren.