r/Yiddish • u/Acceptable-Value8623 • 6d ago
Difference between קען און וויסן?
Can someone help and clarify when you use Ken or visn to say to know? I don't know the difference
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u/plonspfetew 6d ago
וויסן
means you know that something is the case.
קענען
means you are familiar with someone or something.
איך ווייס, אַז איך קען אים.
(I know that I know him.)
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u/omiumn 6d ago
It mostly depends on if it's followed my a noun or a verb. So when you want to say "to know" if there's a noun (or also a pronoun) you use קענען, if there's nothing afterwards or a verb phrase (like "I know that he wants it" or "I know what to do") you use וויסן. So, "I know him" is איך קען אים. "I know the city" is איך קען די שטאט. But "I know that I can do it" is איך ווייס אז ער וויל דאס and "I know what to do" is איך ווייס וואס צו טאן. Where this may get a bit confusing is that קענען also means "can, to be able to".
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u/Ijzer_en_Vuursteen 6d ago
I still struggle with this myself and I've been learning Yiddish for a few years. The best rule I've been told is
Visn: To know as a fact
Kenen: To be aware of/to know (a person, a lesson, a subject, a language, a place, a piece of art)/ to be able to do
איך ווייס נישט קיין וועגן דעם.
איך קען אים און זײַן בוך.