Ik ken dat lied niet.

I don’t know that song.

Breakdown of Ik ken dat lied niet.

• ik: I
• niet: not
• dat: that
• het lied: the song
• kennen: to know

Questions & Answers about Ik ken dat lied niet.

What is the difference between kennen and weten?

kennen means to be familiar with someone or something (people, places, works of art, songs, etc.). weten means to know a fact or piece of information.
• Use kennen when you “know” by experience:
– Ik ken dat lied niet. (I’m not familiar with that song.)
– Ik ken haar al drie jaar. (I’ve known her for three years.)
• Use weten when you “know” facts or answers:
– Ik weet niet hoe dat lied heet. (I don’t know what that song is called.)
– Weet jij het antwoord? (Do you know the answer?)

Why is niet used here, and why is it placed at the end of the sentence? Could I use geen instead?

In Dutch negation:

1. niet negates verbs, adjectives, adverbs and definite or specific objects.
2. The neutral position for niet when negating the entire verb phrase is after the direct object (or at the very end):
   – Ik ken dat lied niet.
3. You can shift niet before a specific element for emphasis, e.g. Ik ken niet dat lied (meaning “I don’t know that particular song, but maybe others”), but that’s less common.
4. geen negates indefinite nouns (like “any”). You’d say Ik ken geen lied (I don’t know any song), which changes the meaning.

Why is the demonstrative dat used instead of die, and how do demonstratives agree with Dutch nouns?

Dutch demonstratives match the gender/number of the noun they modify:
• het–words (neuter singular) pair with dat.
• de–words (common gender singular) and all plurals pair with die.
Since lied is a het–word, you use dat lied (“that song”).

What is the difference between dat and dit?

Both must agree with the noun’s gender/number, but differ in distance:
• dit = “this” (close to the speaker). E.g. dit lied (this song).
• dat = “that” (further from the speaker or previously mentioned). E.g. dat lied (that song).

What does lied mean, and how does the diminutive liedje change the nuance?

• lied = song.
• liedje is the diminutive, often more informal or affectionate.
You can say Ik ken dat liedje niet to sound a bit more colloquial or friendly, but meaning stays “I don’t know that song.”

How do you conjugate the verb kennen in the present tense?

Here’s the present‐tense paradigm of kennen:
• Ik ken
• Jij kent / U kent
• Hij / zij / het kent
• Wij / jullie / zij kennen

Can I say Ik heb dat lied niet gekend instead of Ik ken dat lied niet?

No. kennen is a stative verb, so Dutch uses the simple present to express current familiarity. Saying Ik heb dat lied niet gekend would imply you once knew it but no longer do, which is almost never what you mean. Therefore you stick with Ik ken dat lied niet.