Connaître Conjugation: All Tenses of the French Verb “connaître”
Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed August 2026
Connaître means “to know” in the sense of being acquainted with someone or something: a person, a place, a book, a piece of music. It is the other half of English “know,” next to savoir.
Connaître always takes a direct object noun: je connais ta sœur, je connais ce quartier, elle connaît bien Paris. What it cannot do is introduce a clause, so “I know that he left” has to be je sais qu'il est parti. In the passé composé connaître normally means met or came to know: j'ai connu ma femme à l'université. The words around it are worth learning together — faire connaissance, une connaissance, bien connu.
Connaître has two present stems: connai- in the singular (je connais, tu connais, il connaît) and connaiss- from nous onward (nous connaissons, vous connaissez, ils connaissent). Everything built on the plural stem is predictable from there: imparfait je connaissais, subjunctive que je connaisse, participe présent connaissant. The future and conditional keep the whole infinitive minus its final e (je connaîtrai, je connaîtrais). The circumflex appears only where an i is followed by a t — il connaît, je connaîtrai, connaître — and never in je connais or nous connaissons. The past participle is connu.
Connaître takes avoir: j'ai connu. The participle agrees with a direct object that comes before the verb, which is common with this verb because the object is usually a person: je l'ai connue à Lyon.
Connaître in context
Présent
Je connais un bon restaurant près d'ici. I know a good restaurant near here.
Imparfait
Nous ne connaissions personne à la fête. We didn't know anyone at the party.
Passé composé
J'ai connu ma femme à l'université. I met my wife at university.
Futur simple
Tu connaîtras vite le quartier. You'll get to know the neighbourhood quickly.
Subjonctif présent
Bien qu'elle connaisse la ville, elle se perd encore. Even though she knows the city, she still gets lost.
Common mistakes with connaître
Using connaître before a que clause
✗ Je connais qu'il est parti.
✓ Je sais qu'il est parti. — I know he has left.
Connaître needs a noun as its object; it can never introduce a clause. As soon as the English “know” is followed by “that,” “why,” “where” or “how,” the French verb is savoir. Keep connaître for je connais son frère, je connais la réponse.
Putting a circumflex on je connais
✗ Je connaîs bien ce livre.
✓ Je connais bien ce livre. — I know this book well.
The circumflex in this verb only ever sits on an i that is followed by a t: il connaît, je connaîtrai, connaître. In every other form the i is bare, so je connais, tu connais and nous connaissons take no accent.
Using the passé composé with depuis
✗ J'ai connu Paul depuis 2010.
✓ Je connais Paul depuis 2010. — I've known Paul since 2010.
French uses the present tense for a situation that started in the past and is still true, so depuis pairs with je connais. J'ai connu Paul en 2010 is also correct, but it means I met him in 2010, a single event rather than an ongoing acquaintance.
Expressions with connaître
connaître par cœur
to know by heart
connaître sur le bout des doigts
to know inside out
faire connaissance
to get to know each other
ne pas connaître sa chance
not to know how lucky you are
Frequently asked questions
Is connaître an irregular verb?
Yes, it belongs to the third group. The stem alternates between connai- in the singular present and connaiss- everywhere else, and the past participle connu cannot be predicted from the infinitive. Once you know the connaiss- stem, though, the imparfait, the subjunctive and the participe présent are all regular.
What is the difference between connaître and savoir?
Connaître is acquaintance and takes a noun: je connais ce village, je connais son père. Savoir is information or skill and can take a clause or an infinitive: je sais qu'il pleut, je sais nager. With the same object the two say different things: je connais la chanson means I'm familiar with the song, je sais la chanson means I can perform it from memory.
Is it spelled connaître or connaitre?
Both are accepted. The traditional spelling keeps the circumflex before t (connaître, il connaît), and the 1990 spelling reform makes it optional, giving connaitre and il connait. The table on this page uses the traditional forms, which are still the ones you will see most often in print. The URL of this page uses connaitre because web addresses cannot carry accents.
What is the past participle of connaître?
It is connu, so the passé composé is j'ai connu. In that tense the verb usually means met or came to know rather than knew: nous nous sommes connus au lycée, we met in secondary school. The participle also works as an adjective meaning well known: un acteur connu.
How do you pronounce connais, connaît and connaissent?
Je connais and il connaît are pronounced the same, ending in a short è sound with the final s or t silent. The forms with connaiss- add a hissing s: nous connaissons, ils connaissent, where the final -ent is silent. The infinitive connaître ends in the same -tre sound as mettre or être.