By now, we are sure you have noticed that you use tocar when talking about playing an instrument. We saw this verb used many times in our story, No Me Interesa Tocar el Piano. In English, both tocar and jugar mean “to play". We play an instrument and we play games and sports. In Spanish, however, they are two different verbs.

In English, we would use “to ask” for both of these verbs. In Spanish, we use each under different circumstances. Just like with tocar and jugar, it is fairly simple to know when to use each.

Saber and Conocer seem to be the harder ones to get. We know you can do it! We will just spend a little extra time on these two verbs to make sure. Saber and Conocer both mean "to know" in English. Let's look at when each is used.

Saber is used when talking about knowing a fact, knowing something thoroughly and knowing how to do something. Conocer is used when talking about being acquainted or familiar with a *person, place or thing.

Note: When talking about knowing someone we need to remember to use the personal a.