"They do not know the names of their parents."
Translation:Neznají jména svých rodičů.
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I can never find any article in English that would explain the difference. But other languages have it. French has savoir for vědět and connaitre for znát. I believe in Spanish it is saber and connocer. Once you understand it in one language, you should be able to apply it to another one wiith minor differences but the basics are the same.
I think those languanges are not perfect examples, because in this cause, in spanish for example, it would be "Ellos no SABEN (verbo saber)". In some cases, what you said is right, but in this one for example, theres not that comparation.
Using the word connocer in spanish, that suppostly means znát, in this sentence, it would be: "Ellos no connocen los nombres de sus padres" and it doesnt make sense, it looks like a bit that they dont know their parents at all, its weird
Um bom dia ;)
Yes, the difference between "vědět" and "znát" is not quite the same as between similar verb pairs in the romance languages. To put it simply, "vědět" doesn't take an object (with the exception of "to"/it), it normally takes a clause, whereas "znát" needs a direct object. E.g.:
Znám jeho jméno. (I know his name.)
Vím, jak se jmenuje. (I know what he's called.)
"Nevědí" is the correct form. Sounds a bit unnatural for this situation.
Is this kennen and wissen in German? To be familar with(know) and have the information of(know)?
Yes, "znát" corresponds well with "kennen" and "vědět" with "wissen", but I can't say if the distinction is the same in 100% of expressions, although it's likely, because German and Czech can often be translated almost verbatim into each other (except for word order), due to their geographical proximity.
For instance, I'm not sure which one a native German speaker would choose in this particular sentence. Interestingly, Google returns almost the same number of results for "Sie kennen die Namen" as for "Sie wissen die Namen".
"Wissen" and "vědět" even come from the same proto-indo-european root: *weyd- and they are both cognate with the English word "wit" as well as the Sanskrit "veda".
Thank you! Very interesting! I just read a few German forums about the subject. It sounds like they don't have very strong feelings on which to use in this context but 'wissen' seems to be the what most of them think is technically correct.
I guess that makes sense, literally kennen should probably mean that a name itself is familiar to you and not that you know 'how the person is called'.
However despite that, most of them would still use kennen as an exception that proves the rule. I personally have the same feeling. Probably just owing to how we think of someones name as being them. Wissen seems to fit the rules better but kennen is what I use and 'feels' right.
Super interesting. I'm glad you pointed this out!
So... basically the same as in Czech I suppose?
Yes, I agree with what you wrote.
There are some borderline cases. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Czech prefers to use znát with a direct object and vědět with a clause:
Znám jeho jméno. (I know his name.)
Vím, jak se jmenuje. (I know what he's called.)
The notable exception to this rule is the pronoun "to", which can easily be the object of vědět, too:
Víš to? (Do you know that? - Do you have that information?)
Znáš to? (Do you know that? - Are you familiar with that?)
Lamb Ram, you seem Wise so you probably already Know, but not only are wissen, vědět, and wit related to each other, but kennen and znát are also related to each other, and to another word Visible in these comments: conocer from Latin (co)gnoscere.
Yes, znát is certainly related to Greek gnosis, Spanish conocer, or French connaître, and even English know. But I'm not sure about kennen - according to wiktionary, kennen is related to English ken and they both ultimately come from another PIE root meaning "beget", unlike know/znát. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/kannijan%C4%85
English ken has two different meanings with two different etymologies. If you follow the etymology back on the link you posted you'll find the cognates.