Rocket German Community

3.8 Did you know?

The example shows: "Ich weiß viel über amerikanische Geschichte."
(I know lots about American history.)
However, the explanation says:
"...When referring to knowledge about a subject that you know well, or something you are familiar with, and places kennen is generally used ..."

Confusing. Which one should it be - wissen or kennen?

Hi there,

sorry about the confusion, I know it's not the easiest thing to get your head around.
Generally the rule that you mentioned applies. However there are always exception, it's German after all.
One exception is that the word "über" goes with "wissen".
"Etwas wissen über" means "to know something about". Even if you refer to a person you would use "wissen" in this case.
Ich weiss viel über ihn - I know a lot about him
Ich weiss viel über Hunde - I know a lot about dogs
BUT
Ich kenne ihn - I know him
Ich kenne viele Hunde - I know many dogs

Same with the example about American history - it is something you know about so you use "wissen über"
Ich weiss viel über amerikanische Geschichte - I know a lot about American history
BUT
Ich kenne viele Geschichten - I know a lot of stories.

I hope that helps.
Please let me know if you would like me to give you more examples. You can always post some sentences and I can tell you if you got them right.

All the best
Paul