You should know Conoscere Conjugation if you want to master all Italian irregular verbs. To translate the english verb to know In Italian, we can say conoscere or sapere. Because they have different uses and meanings, for now we will focus on the first one: conoscere. 

Conoscere literally means to know. You can use it with people or places that you know very well. Conoscere also means to experience something, when you have knowledge gained from your life experiences. Also we can have the form ri-conoscere, with the meaning of to recognise someone (or something). With the verb fare, conoscere has also the meaning of to introduce or to meet someone (or a place). 

Here are some examples: 

Conosco questa ragazza che sta parlando con Matteo. 
I know this girl who is talking to Matteo.

Ieri ho finalmente conosciuto un ragazzo che mi è piaciuto molto. 
Yesterday I finally met a guy that I really liked.

Lo riconosco dalla voce.
I recognise him from his voice.

Mia madre mi ha fatto conoscere un suo amico.
My mother introduced me to a friend of hers. 

Now that you are starting to understand its meaning, let’s see in detail the Conjugation of the verb conoscere in all its tenses.

Conoscere Conjugation – Presente Indicativo

Conoscere is a verb of the second conjugation. Presente in Italian is the same as Present Simple in English. It’s used to express a present action or state. 

Examples:

Quando conosce una persona, per lei è molto importante il contatto fisico. 
When she meets someone, physical contact is very important to her.

Non conosco l’artista, ma questa scultura mi piace un sacco. 
I don’t know the artist, but I really like this sculpture.

Conosciamo una ragazza che si chiama come te.
We know a girl with the same name as you.

Before going any further, if you want to repeat Italian tenses here is a useful books for you:

Conoscere Conjugation – Passato Prossimo

Conoscere is a transitive verb followed by a direct object. Which means that in passato prossimo we use the verb avere as an auxiliary verb. The Passato Prossimo of conoscere is conosciuto. We use Passato Prossimo to indicate the action that happened in the past. 

Examples:

Ieri alla festa ho conosciuto un ragazzo molto simpatico.
Yesterday at the party I met a very nice guy.

Quando hai conosciuto Anna?
When did you meet Anna?

Abbiamo conosciuto una ragazza coreana che ci ha parlato molto del suo paese. 
We met a Korean girl who told us a lot about her country.

Conoscere Conjugation – Imperfetto

Another tense to express the past is Imperfetto. Do not confuse it with Passato Prossimo: If you are not sure about the difference read this article first. Use Imperfetto when you want to express habits or feelings from the past or when you want to describe something in the past. 

Examples:

Non conoscevo il nome dei fiori che avevo visto nel suo giardino.
I didn’t know the name of the flowers I had seen in his garden.

Durante la festa sono entrati due ragazzi che nessuno conosceva.
During the party, two guys that nobody knew walked in.

Ho incontrato dei ragazzi che conoscevano mio fratello.
I met a few guys who knew my brother.

Conoscere Conjugation – Trapassato Prossimo

Trapassato prossimo is the compound tense. You form it with an auxiliary verb, essere or avere, in Imperfetto plus Participio Passato of the main verb. Use this tense when you want to express an action that happened before another one in the past. 

Examples: 

Non avevo mai conosciuto qualcuno di così intelligente.
I had never met anyone as smart as him.

Ha finalmente incontrato quel ragazzo che aveva conosciuto online.
She finally met that guy she met online.

Giorgio era un ragazzo che avevamo conosciuto all’Università.
Giorgio was a guy we had met in college.

Conoscere Conjugation – Passato Remoto

If you love reading you’ll probably become familiar with this tense. Otherwise, you’ll hardly encounter Passato Remoto. We use it to express an action that happened a long time ago and it is mostly used in novels and historic books. 

Examples:

Quando Gigi conobbe Alice si innamorò a prima vista.
When Gigi met Alice he fell in love at first sight.

Lo conobbi quando vivevo a Napoli.
I met him when I lived in Naples.

I miei genitori si conobbero durante un viaggio all’estero.
My father and mother met on a trip abroad.

Conoscere Conjugation – Trapassato Remoto

You will never ever hear someone using Trapassato Remoto in the spoken language. It’s a compound tense, formed by an auxiliary verb in Passato Remoto and Participio Passato. For the verb conoscere we use avere as an auxiliary verb. 

Examples: 

Dopo che ebbe conosciuto Alice Gigi si divorziò.
After he met Alice Gigi, he got divorced.

Cominciai a imparare l’italiano dopo che ebbi conosciuto una ragazza italiana.
I started learning Italian after I met an Italian girl.

Conoscere Conjugation – Futuro Semplice 

The Future tense in Italian is Futuro Semplice. We use it to indicate an action that will happen at some point in the future. 

Examples: 

Stasera finalmente conoscerete il mio nuovo ragazzo Andrea.
Tonight you will finally meet my new boyfriend Andrea

Non conosceranno Matteo perché non vengono.
They won’t meet Matthew because they don’t come

Il mondo ti conoscerà presto.
The world will know you soon

Conoscere Conjugation – Futuro Anteriore

Another Future Tense in Italian is Futuro Anteriore. It reveals the action that will be finished before another future action. 

Example: 

Quando tornerò ti porterò il regalo che ti avrò comprato.
When I will return, I’ll bring you a gift I will have bought you.

Conoscere Conjugation – Congiuntivo Presente

When you want to express your thoughts, opinions and something that is not certain, you have to use Congiuntivo. It’s like Subjunctive mode in English, but unlike in English, the subjunctive mode in Italian is used very often. There are four Subjunctive modes in Italian: Congiuntivo Presente, Congiuntivo Passato, Congiuntivo Imperfetto and Congiuntivo Trapassato. 

Examples: 

Credo che nessuno lo conosca veramente.
I don’t think anyone really knows him

Non credo che loro conoscano dottor Rossi.
I don’t think they know Dr. Rossi

Immagino che conosciate bene vostro padre.
I guess you know your father well.

Conoscere Conjugation – Congiuntivo Passato 

Examples: 

E’ uno dei migliori scrittori che abbia mai conosciuto.
He is one of the best writers I have ever met

Mi spiace che i tuoi figli non abbiano conosciuto il nonno.
I’m sorry your children didn’t meet their grandfather.

Sembra che abbiate già conosciuto la sorella di Carla.
Looks like you’ve already met Carla’s sister.

Conoscere Conjugation – Congiuntivo Imperfetto

Examples: 

Pensavo che conoscessero le nostre regole.
I thought they knew our rules.

Vorrei che conoscessi il mio nuovo vicino, Stefano.
I would like you to meet my new neighbor, Stefano.

Se conoscessimo la verità, non ci piacerebbe.
If we knew the truth, we wouldn’t like it.

Conoscere Conjugation – Congiuntivo Trapassato 

Examples: 

Se avessi conosciuto Marco, ti sarebbe piaciuto.
If you had met Marco, you would have liked him.

Credevo che lo aveste già conosciuto alla festa di Anna.
I thought you had already met him at Anna’s party.

Non ce l’avremmo fatta se non avessimo conosciuto lei.
We wouldn’t have made it if we hadn’t met her.

Conoscere Conjugation – Condizionale Presente 

Condizionale is used to express polite requests, advice, wishes and hypotheses. It can be in the present (Condizionale Presente) and in the past (Condizionale Passato). It’s equal to English form would + verb. 

Examples: 

Se leggessi più libri in inglese conoscerei meglio la lingua.
If I read more books in English I would know the language better

Tu conosceresti Eros Ramazzoti se avessi l’opportunità?
Would you meet Eros Ramazzoti if you had the opportunity?

Conosceremmo volentieri la tua nuova ragazza!
We would love to meet your new girlfriend!

Conoscere Conjugation – Condizionale Passato 

Examples:

Se non foste venuti in Italia, non avreste conosciuto Mario.
If you hadn’t come to Italy, you wouldn’t have met Mario.

Mi ha detto che avrebbe conosciuto i miei amici.
He told me that he was going to meet my friends.

Conoscere Conjugation – Imperativo 

The Imperativo is a mode you use when you want to express command or request. By the way it is rarely used in modern Italian. 

Conoscere Conjugation – Infinito 

The Infinito is the basic form of a verb. In italian verbs in infinito have 3 forms: the one that ends in -are, the one that ends in -ere, and the one with -ire. Infinito can be in the present and in the past.

Examples:

Prima di conoscere Andrea non sapevo cosa fosse il vero amore.
Before I met Andrea, I didn’t know what true love was. 

Sono molto felice di aver conosciuto una persona così gentile.
I am very happy to have met such a nice person.

Conoscere Conjugation – Participio 

Participio in the present of the verb conoscere it’s mostly used as a noun, meaning a person whom one knows slightly, an acquaintance. The form Conosciuto, which is the Participio Passato of conoscere, is a part of every compound tense in conoscere conjugation. It can also be used as an adjective and in that case it means well-known, famous. 

Examples:

Conoscere Conjugation – Gerundio

Un nostro conoscente ha detto che parteciperà al prossimo concorso culinario.
One of our acquaintances said he will be entering the next cooking competition.

È un dato poco conosciuto, ma è la verità.
It’s a little-known fact, but it’s the truth.

Gerundio is the mood you can easily recognise. It ends in -ando or in -endo.

Examples: 

Conoscendo mia madre, non partirà senza salutarsi.
Knowing my mother, she won’t leave without saying goodbye.

Avendo conosciuto il tuo ragazzo, direi che avete una relazione splendida.
Having met your boyfriend, I would say you have a wonderful relationship.

Conoscere Vs Sapere 

As we already said at the beginning, the verb conoscere literally means to know. If you already started learning Italian you are probably familiar with the verb sapere which also means to know. However, these two verbs are not quite synonyms and there’s a difference between them. 

Sapere

Basically, sapere means to know something, and conoscere means to know someone. Sapere refers to the knowledge about a fact or a situation. Also it means to be able to do something.

Here are some examples for you: 

So suonare la chitarra.
I can play the guitar. 
It means that I know how to play the guitar, I’m able to play it. 

Sappiamo che Anna è uscita con Marco.
We know that Anna went out with Marco.
It means that we know the fact that Anna went out with Marco. 

Conoscere

Conoscere refers to knowing someone, meeting someone for the first time or being familiar with some place. 

Let me show you some examples: 

Conosci Andrea, il ragazzo di Alice? Certo che lo conosco, è il mio compagno di scuola.
Do you know Andrea, Alice’s boyfriend? Of course I know him, he’s my schoolmate.
It means that I know Andrea, I know that person.

Abbiamo finalmente conosciuto tua madre.
We finally met your mother.
It means that we met your mother for the first time.

Non conosco bene questa zona, forse è meglio chiedere a qualcun altro.
I’m not familiar with this area, so maybe it’s better to ask someone else.
It means that I’m not familiar with this place

Now that you know all Conoscere Conjugations and you know the exact meaning of the verb, you are ready to dive into the Italian language.

In bocca al lupo!