Wir kennen das Risiko.

In German, kennen is used for being familiar with a person, place, thing, or situation. Wissen is used for facts, information, or answers.

So:

• Wir kennen das Risiko. = We are familiar with the risk / We know the risk.
• Wir wissen, dass es ein Risiko gibt. = We know that there is a risk.

A useful shortcut:

• kennen + noun
• wissen + fact / clause

Risiko is a neuter noun in German, so its basic article is das.

• das Risiko = the risk

German nouns have grammatical gender, and you usually need to learn each noun together with its article:

• der = masculine
• die = feminine
• das = neuter

So it is best to memorize Risiko as das Risiko, not just Risiko.

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

In Wir kennen das Risiko:

• Wir = the subject
• kennen = the verb
• das Risiko = the direct object

For neuter nouns, das stays das in both nominative and accusative, so the form does not change here.

Because wir is the subject, and German main clauses often put the subject first.

The normal word order here is:

• Wir = subject
• kennen = verb
• das Risiko = object

So the sentence follows a very common pattern: Subject + Verb + Object.

German word order can change for emphasis, but the conjugated verb still stays in the second position in a main clause:

• Das Risiko kennen wir.

That version emphasizes das Risiko more strongly.

Because it is conjugated for wir.

The infinitive is kennen. With wir, the present tense form is also kennen:

• ich kenne
• du kennst
• er/sie/es kennt
• wir kennen
• ihr kennt
• sie/Sie kennen

So Wir kennen means we know / we are familiar with.

Yes. Risiko is a cognate with English risk, so the meaning is easy to recognize.

However, the form is slightly different:

• English: risk
• German: Risiko

The plural in German is usually:

• das Risiko
• die Risiken

Because all nouns are capitalized in German.

So in this sentence:

• Wir is capitalized because it begins the sentence.
• Risiko is capitalized because it is a noun.

This is one of the most noticeable spelling rules in German.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

veer KEN-nen dahs ree-ZEE-koh

A few helpful notes:

• w in German sounds like English v
• r in wir is usually softer than in many English accents
• kennen has a short e
• das sounds like dahs
• Risiko has stress on the second syllable: ri-SI-ko

If you want to sound more natural, keep the vowels short and clear.

Yes. Very commonly.

Examples:

• Ich kenne ihn. = I know him.
• Kennst du Berlin? = Do you know Berlin?
• Wir kennen das Problem. = We know the problem.

So kennen is not only for people. It can also be used for places, books, problems, dangers, and other things you are familiar with.

Sometimes, yes, depending on context. The most direct meaning is We know the risk or We are familiar with the risk.

In natural English, a translator might also say:

• We know the risk.
• We are aware of the risk.
• We understand the risk.

But grammatically, the German sentence itself uses kennen, so the core idea is familiarity or acquaintance with the risk rather than knowing a specific fact about it.

You can negate it with nicht:

• Wir kennen das Risiko nicht. = We do not know the risk.

Notice that nicht usually comes toward the end of the clause here, after the object.

If you wanted to negate the noun more specifically, you could say:

• Wir kennen kein Risiko.

But that means something different, more like We know no risk or We are not aware of any risk, which is less likely in this context.

In a yes/no question, German usually puts the verb first:

• Kennen wir das Risiko? = Do we know the risk?

If you use a question word, that comes first and the verb stays second:

• Welches Risiko kennen wir? = Which risk do we know?

So German questions often change word order more clearly than English does.