Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to know" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

знать

Meaning: to know, to be aware of, to be familiar with

Pronunciation: [znaht']

Part of speech: verb (imperfective aspect)

Rank: #51 (see frequency list)

One needs to read books to know a lot. Photo by luis de bethencourt CC-SA2.0

Example sentences:

Я знаю русский язык.
I know Russian. (I can speak Russian)
Он знает всё.
He knows everything.
Он ничего не знает о тебе.
He doesn't know anything about you.
Откуда вы знаете?
How do you know? (lit: Where do you know from?)
Я знаю её со школы.
I know her since school.
Я не знаю, что делать.
I don't know what to do.
Как знать!
Who knows?

Idioms and set expressions:

дать знать (кому-либо) = to let (somebody) know
знать в лицо = to know by sight
он знать не хочет = he doesn't want to know; he won't hear of it
знаете ли... = you know...
знать меру = to know when to stop
насколько я знаю = as far as I know
знать, что к чему = to know the how and why of things
Кто его знает! = Who knows?
знать себе цену = to know one's own worth / value
знать понаслышке = to know by hearsay
знать назубок = to know by heart
знать лично каждого = to know everybody by name / personally
знать наперед = to know in advance; to foreknow
знать, как свои пять пальцев = to know (something) like the back of one's hand
знать все ходы и выходы = to know the ins and outs
знать интуитивно = to intuit

Proverbs and sayings:

Знай, кошка, свое лукошко.
Know your place / limits.
Знай край, да не падай.
You shouldn’t go over the edge.
Всяк сверчок знай свой шесток.
What Jupiter is allowed to do, cattle are not.
Знай толк, не бери в долг.
Better go to bed supperless than rise in debt.
Знал бы, где упасть, там соломки постлал бы.
If you could know where you fall, you would spread some straw.
Знать всё -- значит не знать ничего.
To know everything is to know nothing.

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

I	зна́ю
you (singular)	зна́ешь
he, she, it	зна́ет
we	зна́ем
you (plural)	зна́ете
they	зна́ют

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	зна́л
she	зна́ла
it	зна́ло
we, you (plural), they	зна́ли

Future Simple Tense

The imperfective verb знать is not used in the Future Simple Tense. Use the perfective verb узнать instead.

Future Compound Tense

I	буду зна́ть
you (singular)	будешь зна́ть
he, she, it	будет зна́ть
we	будем зна́ть
you (plural)	будете зна́ть
they	будут зна́ть

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	зна́й
you (plural)	зна́йте

View full conjugation table for the verb pair знать/узнать

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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