"Niemand kennt die Antwort."

Translation: Nobody knows the answer.

[emberfly]

Why not wissen? Is not kennen used for countries, people, etc. whereas wissen is used for abstract things (facts, ANSWERS, etc.)

[AnikkaV]

Maybe in this case you can say it both ways, I'm not sure...

My native language is spanish, and we also have "wissen=saber" and "kennen=conocer".
In this particular sentence we could say "nadie sabe la respuesta" and "nadie conoce la respuesta", but don't ask me why...

[musmoulay]

I thought I had understood the difference between "kennen" and "wissen" but this has confused me. If someone asked me a question and I wanted to say "I don't know", it would be "Ich weiss nicht", wouldn't it? By extension, would it not be "ich weiss die Antwort nicht".

[water_color]

No. If you (don't) know SOMETHING, you use kennen. Wissen is about knowing ABOUT something, it doesn't take a direct object

[davidyahoo]

what is the difference between kennen and wissen

[amoussa]

Here is some good information on the differences:
http://www.deutschseite.de/vokabeln/kennen_und_wissen/kennen_und_wissen.html

[LukaJovic1]

I think I got it! So, kennen is used for nouns, and wissen otherwise, right?

[davidyahoo]

thanks!

[BenNew3]

Ninja and Yo-landi would disagree ;-)

[idkhbtfm]

Professor Snape, I think Hermoine knows the answer.

[Kooliocalum]

Except for Duo.

[starsaler]

Warum kann ich nicht Präteritum benutzen? Sie spricht so schnell, dass das ist möglich "e" nicht zu hören.

[ReedBoohar]

Even on that website, it said "Er weiß die Antwort nicht"...and I was always taught that "kennen" was strictly people and places, while.wissen were facts as well!

[glasskey]

Why isn't it kennen instead of kennt?

[EntropyMan]

Niemand (nobody or no one) and jemand (somebody or someone) are seen as singular. Same as in English ("Nobody knows the troubles I've seen").

[darylgaerlan]

What about keiner? Can it be used instead of niemand?

[Janet333663]

I was always taught that kennen is used only in reference to people.

[giraffeJes]

Why not "nobody knows the answer"?

[LeighNanan]

If nobody knows the answer, how do you

[hectorlqr]

Jeder kennt die Antwoord!