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Questions & Answers about Vi känner mannen.
Why does the verb end in -er here?
Känner comes from the infinitive verb att känna (to know/feel). It belongs to Group 2 of Swedish verbs, which form their present tense by adding -er to the verb stem (känn-).
I thought the word for "know" was vet? Why use känner?
Swedish has two different words for "to know". You use vet (from att veta) when you know a fact or piece of information. You use känner (from att känna) when you know a person, a place, or are familiar with something. Since we are talking about knowing a person here, we must use känner.
How is the 'k' in känner pronounced?
Because the 'k' is followed by the soft vowel 'ä', it is not pronounced like a hard English 'k'. Instead, it makes a soft sound similar to the 'sh' in 'shoe' or 'ch' in 'chef' (often called the tj-sound in Swedish).
Why is the word for "the man" written as mannen instead of just man?
In Swedish, "the" is attached to the end of the noun as a suffix rather than being a separate word. En man means "a man". To say "the man", you add the definite suffix to the end, making it mannen.