Savoir or connaître?

French has two verbs for to know.

• savoir: to know a fact or to know how to do something. It is followed by an infinitive or by a clause with que, si, où, quand, comment, pourquoi, quel: Je sais cuisiner (I can cook), Je sais qu'il est là (I know he is here).
• connaître: to be familiar with a person, a place or a work: Je connais Marie (I know Marie), Elle connaît Lyon (She knows Lyon).

Quick test: an infinitive or a clause follows → savoir; a person, a place or a work you are familiar with follows → connaître.

Present tense: je sais, tu sais, il sait, nous savons, vous savez, ils savent; je connais, tu connais, il connaît, nous connaissons, vous connaissez, ils connaissent. The spelling connait without the circumflex is also accepted.