Learn Hardcore Catalan: Has conegut la professora de música?

In Catalan, this form is very common for talking about a completed past action. Depending on context, it may correspond to English Have you met... ? or sometimes Did you meet... ?

Why does conèixer mean meet here, not know?

This is a very common point of confusion.

The verb conèixer can mean:

to know a person/place
to meet someone for the first time

In a sentence like Has conegut la professora de música?, the perfect tense often gives the sense of Have you met the music teacher?

Compare:

Conec la professora de música. = I know the music teacher.
He conegut la professora de música. = I met / have met the music teacher.

So the tense helps guide the meaning.

Is has here the same as English has?

It looks similar, but here has is the 2nd person singular form of haver, not the English-style 3rd person singular.

So:

he conegut = I have met
has conegut = you have met
ha conegut = he/she has met

This is one of those forms that English speakers often mix up because has in English goes with he/she/it, but in Catalan has goes with tu.

Why is there no subject pronoun like tu?

Catalan usually leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb ending.

Since has already tells us the subject is tu, there is no need to say it.

So:

Has conegut la professora de música? = natural
Tu has conegut la professora de música? = possible, but more emphatic or contrastive

Catalan is a pro-drop language, like Spanish or Italian.

Why is there la before professora?

La is the definite article, meaning the.

Here, la professora de música means the music teacher — a specific teacher, not just any teacher.

Catalan uses articles very regularly, so if you are referring to a specific person, the article is normally required:

la professora = the teacher
una professora = a teacher

What does de música mean exactly?

De música means of music literally, but in natural English it corresponds to music in music teacher.

So:

professora de música = music teacher
literally: teacher of music

This is a very common Catalan pattern:

professor d’anglès = English teacher
classe de matemàtiques = math class
llibre d’història = history book

How does this sentence become a question? Is there inversion?

In Catalan, yes/no questions often have the same word order as statements. The main difference is usually:

intonation in speech
question marks in writing

So:

Has conegut la professora de música. = statement
Has conegut la professora de música? = question

There is no special English-style do-support, and no required inversion like Have you met... ? because the auxiliary is already there.

Sometimes spoken Catalan may also use particles or emphasis, but this plain form is completely normal.

Why is it conegut and not coneguda, since professora is feminine?

Because with the auxiliary haver, the past participle normally does not agree in gender or number with the object.

So you say:

Has conegut la professora
Has conegut el professor
Has conegut les professores

In all of these, the participle stays conegut.

This is different from some other Romance-language patterns learners may know, and different from Catalan constructions with certain pronouns or with other auxiliaries, where agreement can appear.

Could I also say this with a different past tense?

Yes. Catalan also has the periphrastic past:

Vas conèixer la professora de música?

This often corresponds to Did you meet the music teacher?

Very roughly:

Has conegut...? often feels connected to the present or to life experience
Vas conèixer...? often feels more like a finished past event

But in real usage, especially depending on region and context, the difference is not always as sharp as in English. Both forms are common and important to learn.