Breakdown of Le libraire connaît bien ce quartier et recommande toujours de bons romans.
et
and
ce
this
toujours
always
connaître
to know
Questions & Answers about Le libraire connaît bien ce quartier et recommande toujours de bons romans.
Why does libraire mean something different from what it looks like in English?
Because libraire is a false friend.
In French, un libraire means a bookseller or a bookstore owner/worker, not a librarian.
- libraire = bookseller
- librairie = bookstore / bookshop
- bibliothèque = library
- bibliothécaire = librarian
So in this sentence, Le libraire means The bookseller or The bookstore owner, not The librarian.
Why is it connaît and not sait for knows?
French has two main verbs for to know:
- connaître = to know someone, a place, or something through familiarity
- savoir = to know a fact, information, or how to do something
Here, the sentence says the bookseller knows this neighborhood well, so French uses connaître because it is about familiarity with a place.
Examples:
What is the form connaît exactly?