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GERMAN VERB

kennenlernen

to get to know

  • #144 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: kennengelernt

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

  1. ich I get to know
  2. du you get to know
  3. er, sie, es he/she gets to know
  4. wir we get to know
  5. ihr you all get to know
  6. sie, Sie they get to know

Simple past

Präteritum · the past of writing, and of sein, haben and the modals in speech

  1. ich I got to know
  2. du you got to know
  3. er, sie, es he/she got to know
  4. wir we got to know
  5. ihr you all got to know
  6. sie, Sie they got to know

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

  1. ich I have gotten to know
  2. du you have gotten to know
  3. er, sie, es he/she has gotten to know
  4. wir we have gotten to know
  5. ihr you all have gotten to know
  6. sie, Sie they have gotten to know

Future

Futur I · “werden”; in speech the present with “morgen” does the job

  1. ich I will get to know
  2. du you will get to know
  3. er, sie, es he/she will get to know
  4. wir we will get to know
  5. ihr you all will get to know
  6. sie, Sie they will get to know

Conditional

Konjunktiv II · “would”: “würde”, and “wäre”, “hätte”, “könnte”

  1. ich I would get to know
  2. du you would get to know
  3. er, sie, es he/she would get to know
  4. wir we would get to know
  5. ihr you all would get to know
  6. sie, Sie they would get to know

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

  1. du get to know!
  2. ihr get to know! (all of you)
  3. Sie get to know! (formal)

How to use kennenlernen

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Heute lerne ich endlich seine Eltern kennen.

    Today I'm finally meeting his parents.

  2. Simple past

    Wir lernten uns auf einer Hochzeit kennen.

    We met at a wedding.

  3. Perfect

    Wo habt ihr euch kennengelernt?

    Where did you two meet?

  4. Future

    Du wirst dort viele nette Leute kennenlernen.

    You'll meet a lot of nice people there.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde deine Schwester gern mal kennenlernen.

    I'd like to meet your sister sometime.

  6. Imperative

    Lern erst mal die Stadt kennen, dann entscheide.

    Get to know the city first, then decide.

Good to know

  • Kennenlernen is to meet someone for the first time; treffen is to meet someone you know.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.