Desconocer

 

Every Spanish language student knows that there are two verbs that mean to know, saber and conocer. This is true in other Romance languages as well. What many students don’t know is that we have a verb with the opposite meaning: desconocer.

The main meaning of desconocer is to not know, but it could be translated as to ignore something, to be unknown to, to be unaware, to fail to recognize someone because of some unusual behavior or some unusual physical appearance. In many cases desconocer = no saber, no reconocer, and sometimes no conocer.

Examples:

Lo desconozco por completo. I don’t know anything about it at all.
Desconozco qué hora es. I don’t know what time it is.
Te desconozco. I don’t recognize you.
Desconozco la respuesta. I don’t know the answer.
Desconozco si él está en casa. I don’t know if he is at home.

 

 

More examples from tweets:

Desconozco el autor/a de esta imagen, pero dice verdad, por eso la comparto. Feliz día del libro pic.twitter.com/HRNPT2VERH

— Manuela Monleón (@manuelamonleon) April 23, 2021

 

Una bonita postal de Pasto que me encontré en medio de un libro. Desconozco la fecha pero debe ser en los 80 pic.twitter.com/JFCZBtaYrD

— Dueñas 🫡🫡 (@jorgeduenas96) April 26, 2021

 

“I don’t recognize my face”

#VIDEO: “Desconozco mi rostro“. Joven tiktoker lamenta la bichectomia a la que decidió sometersehttps://t.co/qLgo1d3vNK pic.twitter.com/2VRjCfPplM

— SinEmbargo (@SinEmbargoMX) April 28, 2021

 

“I don’t even recognize myself”  (for eating only healthy food today)

Mis comidas sanas de hoy, HASTA ME DESCONOZCO pic.twitter.com/0HUSHrA6OV

— Mereoleona Vermillion (@lvkrnpn) April 27, 2021

 

 

Originally published on 20090812. Latest update 20210429  (spanishNY.com) top