The first meaning, you probably already know. Yes, saber means “to know.” But there is another meaning to the verb that you may not have learned yet.  Saber also means “to taste. ”

So how do you distinguish between SABER when it means “to know” and SABER when it means “to taste”?

You can usually tell from the context. If the subject is food, then it’s likely that the meaning is “to taste.” But to avoid any confusion, you use a preposition to distinguish the different meanings.

SABER DE = to know about, to know of

When you want to express the meaning “to know about, to know of,” use SABER plus the preposition DE.

¿Sabes de un buen lugar para estudiar español? Sí, yo sé de un lugar fántastico en Argentina. (Do you know of a great place to study Spanish? Yes, I know of a fantastic place in Argentina.)

There are additional nuances to the verb SABER which I’ve previously discussed here. Check out the episode entitled  CONOCER vs. SABER for more insight into the meaning and usage of saber.

SABER A = to taste of, to taste like

When saber means “to taste,” you use the preposition a. That means “to taste of, or to taste like.”

Esta galleta sabe a coco y a mí no mi gusta ese sabor. (This cookie tastes like coconut and I don’t like that flavor.)

La sopa sabe a ajo. Es un poco fuerte. (The soup tastes of garlic. It’s a little strong.)

So to sum up, the verb SABER means “to know” or “to taste.” To distinguish between the two meanings, pay attention to the context and remember that at times you’ll have to use the Spanish prepositions A or DE to be grammatically correct.

Extra tip:

The nouns SABOR (flavor) and OLOR (smell) sometimes require the use of the preposition A. Here’s what you need to know:

When you are referring to a specific smell or flavor: sabor / olor + a + noun.

But you don’t need the preposition “a”  if you follow  the noun with an adjective: sabor / olor + adjective.

sabor a chocolate (chocolate flavored) but sabor dulce (sweet taste)

sabor a cebolla (onion flavored) but sabor ácido (sour taste, acidic taste)

olor a humo (smells of smoke, smells smokey) but olor terrible (horrible smell)

olor a canela (smells like cinnamon) but olor increíble (incredible smell)

The Spanish preposition A is also paired with the verb OLER (to smell). For example: Tu pelo huele a tabaco. (Your hair smells smokey, your hair smells of cigarette smoke.)

A funny way to say that something smells awful in Spanish is to say that it “huele a tigre” (smells like a tiger).

OLER is an irregular verb that undergoes a spelling change to the letter “h” in the present tense: huelo (I smell) hueles (you smell), huele (he smells), etc.

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Another unique aspect of soler is that it has no direct English equivalent. There is no one-word verb in English which has the exact meaning that soler has in Spanish. If you look in an English-Spanish dictionary, you will see “to be in the habit of” or “used to” or  given as definitions of soler in English.

Here’s all you need to know about soler. It’s a verb that you use in Spanish to indicate that an action is routine or an activity is habitual. In English we would resort to using the adverbs “usually” or “generally”  to convey the same meaning.

In the present tense, soler is used to refer to current actions which are routine or habitual.
In the past tense, soler is used to refer to past habitual or routine actions.

Also, soler is always, always, always followed by the infinitive of another verb which represents the routine action. (The formula is: SOLER + INFINITIVE of another verb = habitual action)

Here are some examples:

Cuando Daniel era pequeño, solía comer pasteles de barro. Creía que eran chocolate. When Daniel was little, he would eat (was in the habit of eating) mud pies. He thought they were chocolate.

¿A qué hora sueles acostarte? What time do you usually go to bed?

Solía acostarme temprano pero ahora suelo dormir menos de cinco horas cada noche. (I used to go to bed early but now I usually sleep less than five hours every night.)

Suelo ir al gimnasio tres veces a la semana y suelo dar un paseo en el parque con mi perro todos los días. (I usually go to the gym 3x a week and I usually take a walk in the park with my dog every day.)

Soler can also be used  in the subjunctive just like any other normal Spanish verb.

For example:

Espero que el tren suela llegar a tiempo porque tengo prisa. (I hope the train usually arrives on time because I’m in a hurry.)

Me sorprende que Antonio suela salir con chicas tan bobas porque es un hombre muy culto. (It surprises me that Antonio usually goes out with such bimbos because he’s a very cultured, well-educated man.)

No creo que los famosos de Hollywood suelan cenar en este restaurante tan cutre y sucio. (I don’t believe that Hollywood celebs generally dine in this tacky, dirty restaurant.)

“EN” is a frequently-used preposition. It can be translated with various meanings in English such as in, by, at, or on, depending on the context.

Here’s a break down on when to use EN in Spanish. Obviously, there may be exceptions but this will give you some basic guidelines.

To indicate location

Vivo en una ciudad. (I live in a city.)

Busca en ese cajón. (Look in that drawer.)

Hoy me quedo en casa porque no me encuentro bien. (Today I’m staying at home because I don’t feel well.)

To place something in a time frame or time period

Ernest Hemingway nació en el siglo XIX. (Hemingway was born in the 19th-century.)

Acabaré en una hora. (I’ll finish in an hour.)

With movement verbs and modes of transportation

Vine en taxi. (I came by taxi.) Me encanta viajar en tren. (I love traveling by train.)

To indicate what a topic or subject is about

Pienso en ti. (I’m thinking about you.) Luis es experto en artes marciales. (Luis is an expert in martial arts.)

“EN” is also used in fixed expressions like “en voz alta” (in a loud voice), “en vez de” (instead of), “en medio de” (in the middle of), etc.

The only possible overlap in meaning between EN and SOBRE is with location. However, sobre is used to indicate a more precise location, a position that is above something else, while en is used with a more general meaning of location.

Think of “sobre” as the equivalent of “encima de” (on top of).

“Deja las llaves sobre la mesilla.” [ Leave the keys on the nightstand (on top of the nightstand).]

Chicos, por favor, no pongáis los pies sobre la mesa. [Guys, please, don’t put your feet on the table (on top of the table).]

Las cajas están colocadas unas sobre otras. (The boxes are stacked on top of one another.)

Eduardo está muy agobiado. Son demasaidas las responsabilides que recaen sobre él. [Eduardo is very stressed out. He’s got too many obligations weighing him down. (Literal  translation: “…that are falling on top of him.”)]

Sobre also has the meaning of “about” in Spanish. The preposition “acerca de” has the same meaning.

Tenemos que hablar sobre lo que pasó ayer.  Tenemos que hablar acerca de lo que pasó ayer. (We have to talk about what happened yesterday.)

¿Qué sabes tú sobre este asunto? What do you know about this topic?

Sobre can also be used to give an approximation, what we’d translate in English as “around” or “around about.”

Ayer llamé a tu casa sobre las seis de la tarde. ¿Dónde estabas? (I called you around 6 p.m. yesterday. Where were you?)

Sobre is a bit of a weird preposition because in addition to being a preposition, it is also a noun (which means “envelope”), but it’s always obvious, from the context, when it is being used as a noun. Necesito comprar un sobre para enviar esa carta. (I need to buy an envelope in order to send that letter.)

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This podcast is the audio verb drill for the imperfect past tense of SER. Purchase the complete set of audio verb drills for SER on this page. The price is $7.99.

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Conocer is intangible knowledge in the sense of to be familiar with someone or something. Use this verb with people, places and things.
Example: ¿Usted conoce Madrid? Do you know Madridl? ¿Conoces a Felipe? Do you know Phillip? Are you acquainted with Phillip? ¿Conoce usted ese café? Do you know that café? Are you familiar with that cafe?

Saber, meanwhile, means to know a fact, to have specific knowledge about something.

Examples:

¿Sabes a qué hora empieza la película? Do you know what time the movie starts? ¿Sabes el título de la película? ¿Sabe María mi nombre? Do you know the title of the movie? Does Mary know my name?

You can get additional mileage out of saber by adding an infinitive to it. An infinitive is an unconjugated verb. Here is the formula for saying “to know how” to do something in Spanish. Saber + infinitve = to know how (in English)

Here are some examples:

¿Sabe cocinar tu compañero de piso? (Does your roommate know how to cook?

Sí, él sabe cocinar. (Yes, he knows how to cook.)

Notice that this construction in Spanish doesn’t require the adverb “cómo” (how).

So, to summarize, conocer and saber both mean “to know” but with distinct usages.
Use CONOCER when referring to people, places or things that you know or are familiar with. Use SABER when referring to facts, information, specific know-how.

2. Once you’ve listened to the audio drill at least once or twice, then look at the written form of the conjugated verb so that you can see and memorize the spelling. Do the audio drill again, this time reading and repeating the conjugated verb. A good online Spanish verb conjugator is available at Word Reference.com. Just type in the verb you need in the search box and once you land on that verb’s  page, click on “CONJUGATOR” to see a full table of conjugations for that specific verb.

Remember, you have to practice using these verbs for them to stick in your memory. Each audio verb drill is five minutes or less, so it doesn’t take much time for you to sneak in a little Spanish verb practice every single day. ¡Suerte! and Happy Re-Verberating!

Here is the basic format of the ReVerb Spanish audio verb drills:
Parts 1 & 2: Listen and repeat the verb conjugations given in the standard order (yo soy, tú eres, él es, ella es, usted es, nosotros somos, vosotros sois, ellos son, ellas son, ustedes son.)

Part 3: Verb conjugations are given out of order. For example, with the present tense of the verb SER, you may hear a sequence such as vosotros sois, yo soy, ustedes son, etc. Listen and repeat.

Part 4: Here’s where you test yourself. We give you the pronoun and you have to give the correct form of the verb for that pronoun. For example, you’ll hear the pronoun “YO“ and then you are supposed to say the correct form of the verb for that Spanish pronoun. After a brief pause for each pronoun, you will hear the correct response so that you can check your answer.

Part 5: Spanish audio verb drills for the Spanish subjunctive will include additional audio practice exercises of short phrases and sentences.

A full selection of Spanish audio verb drills will be available after May 7, 2009. Subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed or Email list to get updated on when they are available.

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