Ich kenne den Text schon auswendig.

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Breakdown of Ich kenne den Text schon auswendig.

• schon: already
• kennen: to know
• den: the; (masculine, accusative)

Questions & Answers about Ich kenne den Text schon auswendig.

Why is it kenne and not weiß here?

German has two common verbs for to know:

• kennen = to be familiar with a person or thing
• wissen = to know a fact, a piece of information, or the answer to a question

In this sentence you are familiar with den Text (the text) as an object, so German uses kennen.

• Ich kenne den Text. = I know the text / I am familiar with the text.
• Ich weiß, wie der Text geht. = I know how the text goes.

Using Ich weiß den Text is generally felt to be wrong or at least very odd. For knowing something by heart, German normally says etwas auswendig kennen or etwas auswendig können, not wissen.

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Why is it den Text and not der Text?

den Text is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb kennen.

• The noun Text is masculine.
• Masculine definite article forms:
  
  • Nominative: der Text (subject)
  • Accusative: den Text (direct object)

Example:

• Der Text ist lang. → Der Text is the subject (nominative).
• Ich kenne den Text. → den Text is the object (accusative).

So in Ich kenne den Text schon auswendig, den is required because Text is the thing being known.

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What exactly does schon add, and can I leave it out?