Breakdown of Hast du den Weg gekannt?
du
you (informal singular)
haben
to have
kennen
to know (somebody/something)
der Weg
the way
Questions & Answers about Hast du den Weg gekannt?
Why is it gekannt and not gekennt?
gekannt comes from the verb kennen (to know). It belongs to a special group of verbs called mixed verbs. They mix two rules: they get the normal ge- at the beginning and -t at the end just like regular verbs, but their middle vowel changes from e to a, just like irregular verbs.
Could I use gewusst here instead of gekannt?
No, you must use gekannt here. German has two verbs for to know. kennen is used when you are familiar with people, places, or things (like a physical route). wissen is only used for knowing facts. Because a way or route is something you are familiar with, you need kennen.
Why is it den Weg and not der Weg?
Weg is a masculine noun (der Weg). In this sentence, it is the direct object, meaning it is the thing that is known. When a masculine noun is the direct object, it changes to the accusative case, turning der into den.
Why does gekannt go at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard rule for the German past tense (Perfekt). The helping verb (hast) takes the normal verb position at the front of the question, and the past participle (gekannt) is pushed all the way to the end.