wëssen

To Know a Fact: Wëssen

Level 2

Use wëssen for facts and answers: Ech weess et net. Use kennen for people and places: Ech kennen hatt.

How It Works

The forms. Wëssen is irregular in the singular.

  • ech weess
  • du weess
  • hien, si, et weess
  • mir wëssen
  • dir wësst, and polite Dir wësst
  • si wëssen

The perfect is hunn ... gewosst, also spelled gewousst: Dat hunn ech net gewosst. (I didn't know that.)

What you can know. Wëssen needs a fact: a word like et, dat, eppes or näischt, or a whole clause.

  • Ech weess et net. (I don't know.)
  • Mir wëssen näischt. (We know nothing.)
  • Ech weess, datt hie Recht huet. (I know that he is right.) See datt.
  • Weess du, ob d'Anna muer kënnt? (Do you know if Anna is coming tomorrow?) See ob.
  • Wësst Dir, wou d'Gare ass? (Do you know where the station is?) See indirect questions.

Wëssen or kennen? English uses to know for both, but Luxembourgish has two verbs.

  • wëssen: facts, answers and information. Ech weess seng Adress. (I know his address.)
  • kennen: people, places, films, songs, anything you are familiar with. Ech kennen hatt. (I know her.) Ech kenne Lëtzebuerg gutt. (I know Luxembourg well.)

Kennen has regular present forms: ech kennen, du kenns, hie kennt. Its participle is irregular: hunn ... kannt. Do not mix it up with kënnen (can), which has an ë.

In quick speech, Weess du often becomes Weess de: Weess de wat? (You know what?)

Examples (6)

  1. Ech weess et net.

    I don't know.

    Weess is the ech form: no ending at all.

  2. Wësst Dir, wou d'Gare ass?

    Do you know where the station is?

    Polite Dir takes wësst. After wou, the verb ass goes to the end.

  3. Weess du, ob d'Anna muer kënnt?

    Do you know if Anna is coming tomorrow?

    The du form is also weess, with no -s.

  4. Dat hunn ech net gewosst.

    I didn't know that.

    The participle is gewosst, also written gewousst.

  5. Mir wëssen nach net, wéini mer fortfueren.

    We don't know yet when we're leaving.

    The plural mir wëssen looks like the infinitive.

  6. Ech kennen hatt, mee ech weess net, wou hatt wunnt.

    I know her, but I don't know where she lives.

    Kennen for the person, wëssen for the fact.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding -s or -t to weess.

    Du weesst dat schonn.
    Du weess dat schonn.

    In the singular, the form is always weess: ech weess, du weess, hie weess.

  • Using the infinitive form with ech, as with regular verbs.

    Ech wëssen et net.
    Ech weess et net.

    For most verbs the ech form looks like the infinitive, but wëssen is irregular: ech weess.

  • Using wëssen for a person.

    Ech weess hatt net.
    Ech kennen hatt net.

    You know people and places with kennen. Wëssen is only for facts and information.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

wëssenLevel 2To Know a Fact: Wëssen

Learn This First

Before To Know a Fact: Wëssen, learn Can: Kënnen and That: Datt.

Words in This Pattern

wëssenkennen