Jag känner inte personen på bilden.

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Breakdown of Jag känner inte personen på bilden.

• inte: not
• på: in
• känna: to know

Questions & Answers about Jag känner inte personen på bilden.

What does känner mean here?

Here känner is the present tense of känna, which often means to know in the sense of to be acquainted with someone.

So Jag känner inte personen på bilden means that the speaker is not personally familiar with that person.

This is different from:

• Jag vet inte vem personen är = I don’t know who the person is
• Jag känner inte personen = I don’t know the person

Swedish often separates these ideas more clearly than English does.

Why is it känner and not vet?

Because Swedish uses different verbs for different kinds of know.

• känna = to know a person / be familiar with
• veta = to know a fact / have information
• kunna = to know how to / be able to

So:

• Jag känner Anna. = I know Anna.
• Jag vet svaret. = I know the answer.
• Jag kan simma. = I can swim / I know how to swim.

In this sentence, the object is a person, so känna is the natural choice.

Why does inte come after känner?