L’antiquaire connaît le brocanteur.

Because antiquaire begins with a vowel sound, French normally shortens le or la to l’ before it. This is called elision.

• le antiquaire → incorrect
• la antiquaire → incorrect
• l’antiquaire → correct

This happens with many words:

• l’ami
• l’école
• l’homme

In this sentence, l’antiquaire can mean the antique dealer, whether male or female; the written form does not show the gender here.

It can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the person being referred to.

• un antiquaire = a male antique dealer
• une antiquaire = a female antique dealer

But in the sentence l’antiquaire connaît le brocanteur, the form l’ does not tell you whether the antique dealer is male or female. You would need more context to know.

The circumflex accent (î) is part of the correct spelling of the verb form connaît.

Here, connaît is the third-person singular present form of connaître:

• je connais
• tu connais
• il / elle / on connaît

The accent does not completely change the meaning by itself, but it is required in standard spelling for this form. Many learners just need to memorize that il connaît has the circumflex.

This is a very common question because both can relate to knowing in English.

In this sentence, connaît comes from connaître, which is used for:

• knowing a person
• being familiar with a place
• being acquainted with something

Examples:

• Je connais Marie. = I know Marie.
• Il connaît Paris. = He knows Paris / He is familiar with Paris.

Savoir is usually used for:

• knowing a fact
• knowing how to do something

Examples:

• Je sais la réponse. = I know the answer.
• Elle sait nager. = She knows how to swim.

So in L’antiquaire connaît le brocanteur, connaître is used because it means the antique dealer knows / is acquainted with the second-hand dealer.

Because French usually follows the same basic order as English in simple statements:

subject + verb + object

Here:

• L’antiquaire = subject
• connaît = verb
• le brocanteur = direct object

So the sentence structure is very straightforward for an English speaker.

A brocanteur is a person who deals in second-hand goods, old objects, or items sold in markets, fairs, or antique-type shops. It is related to brocante, which refers to second-hand wares, flea-market goods, or miscellaneous old objects.

It is not always exactly the same as an antique dealer:

• un antiquaire usually deals in antiques and often more valuable or historically important items
• un brocanteur usually deals in second-hand or old goods more broadly

So the sentence contrasts two related professions.

Because brocanteur begins with a consonant sound, so there is no elision.

• le brocanteur = correct
• l’brocanteur = incorrect

French only shortens le or la to l’ before a vowel or mute h sound.

So:

• l’antiquaire → starts with a vowel
• le brocanteur → starts with a consonant

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

lan-tee-kair kon-NAY luh bro-kon-TUR

A few notes:

• l’antiquaire: the l’ links directly into the next word
• connaît: the final t is normally silent
• brocanteur: the ending -teur sounds a bit like tur in English, but with a more French vowel quality

A more IPA-style pronunciation would be roughly:

lɑ̃.ti.kɛʁ kɔ.nɛ lə bʁɔ.kɑ̃.tœʁ

You do not need perfect IPA, but it helps to know that many final consonants in French are not pronounced.

No. In normal French pronunciation, the final t in connaît is silent.

So it sounds like con-nay, not con-nate.

This is very common in French: many final consonants are written but not pronounced.

With definite articles (l’, le), the sentence most naturally refers to specific people in context:

• the antique dealer
• the second-hand dealer

But in French, definite articles are also used more often than in English, so context matters. In many cases, this sentence will simply mean that one particular antique dealer knows one particular second-hand dealer.

Not necessarily.

Because antiquaire can be masculine or feminine, the sentence could still be:

L’antiquaire connaît le brocanteur.

That could mean:

• the male antique dealer knows the second-hand dealer
• the female antique dealer knows the second-hand dealer

If you wanted to make the gender clearer elsewhere in the sentence, you would usually need more context, or perhaps a pronoun in another sentence.

The infinitive is connaître.

In the present tense:

• je connais = I know
• tu connais = you know
• il connaît = he knows
• elle connaît = she knows
• on connaît = one/we/people know
• nous connaissons = we know
• vous connaissez = you know
• ils connaissent = they know
• elles connaissent = they know

So the form connaît is specifically used with il, elle, or on, or with a singular noun like l’antiquaire.

Normally, no.

You generally do not use savoir to say you know a person. For people, French uses connaître.

So:

• L’antiquaire connaît le brocanteur. = correct
• L’antiquaire sait le brocanteur. = incorrect

If you are talking about being acquainted with someone, connaître is the right choice.