See also: Saber

English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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saber (plural sabers)

  1. (American spelling) Alternative form of sabre
  2. Clipping of lightsaber

Verb

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saber (third-person singular simple present sabers, present participle sabering, simple past and past participle sabered)

  1. (American spelling) Alternative form of sabre

Translations

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Anagrams

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Asturian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin sapere (taste, know).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /saˈbeɾ/, [saˈβ̞eɾ]

Verb

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saber

  1. to know
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Catalan

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Catalan saber, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre (taste, know).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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saber (first-person singular present , first-person singular preterite sabí, past participle sabut)

  1. to know (a fact), to have knowledge
  2. to know how to

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Noun

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saber m (plural sabers)

  1. knowledge, know-how

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References

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Galician

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Etymology

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From Old Galician-Portuguese saber, from Latin sapere (taste, know).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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saber (first-person singular present sei, first-person singular preterite souben, past participle sabido)
saber (first-person singular present sei, first-person singular preterite soubem or soube, past participle sabido, reintegrationist norm)

  1. to know (a fact)
  2. to know how to do (something)
    Val máis saber que ter (proverb)
    Better to know than to have
  3. to find out
  4. (intransitive) to taste, to have a taste
    Sabe ben!It tastes good!
  5. (pronominal) to like, enjoy
    A min sábeme o caldo.I like broth / I like this broth.

Usage notes

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Like Portuguese and Spanish, Galician has two different verbs that are usually translated to English as “to know”. The verb saber relates to factual knowledge and skills. In contrast, the verb coñecer relates to familiarity with people or places.

Conjugation

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Currently, it is not known where the first person singular form that is currently used for the present indicative, "sei", originates from.

Derived terms

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See also

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Noun

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saber m (plural saberes)

  1. knowledge, know-how

References

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Occitan

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Occitan saber, from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre (taste, know).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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saber

  1. to know
    Antonym: ignorar

Conjugation

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Old Occitan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Latin sapĕre (taste, know).

Verb

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saber

  1. to taste (have a certain taste)
  2. to know

Noun

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saber m (oblique plural sabers, nominative singular sabers, nominative plural saber)

  1. knowledge
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Descendants

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  • Catalan: saber

References

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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From Old Galician-Portuguese saber, from Latin sapere (taste, know).

The 1SG reflects an original */ˈsajᵒ/, in common with other Romance languages, of uncertain origin. The present subjunctive forms show consonant metathesis (sapiām > */ˈsajpa/ > Pt. saiba).

Pronunciation

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  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /sɐˈbeɾ/ [sɐˈβeɾ]
    • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /sɐˈbe.ɾi/ [sɐˈβe.ɾi]

Verb

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saber (first-person singular present sei, first-person singular preterite soube, past participle sabido)

  1. to know
    1. (transitive or intransitive) to be aware, to know [with direct object ‘a fact’ or que (+ indicative clause when positive or subjunctive clause when negated) ‘that ...’ or indirect question]
      Perguntaram-me a resposta, mas eu não sabia.They asked me the answer, but I didn’t know.
      Sei que é verdade.I know it’s true.
    2. (transitive) to be aware of a value or piece of information
      • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 46:
        Olho-Tonto, você sabe que isso é nojento, não sabe?
        Mad-Eye, you know that this is disgusting, don't you?
      Eu sei qual é a capital da Assíria.I know what is the capital of Assyria.
      Ele sabe duzentos algarismos do número neperiano.He knows two hundred digits of Euler’s number.
    3. (catenative) to know how [with infinitive ‘to do something’]
      Não sei fazer isso, mas ela sabe.I don’t know how to do this, but she knows.
      Sabes falar russo?Can you speak Russian?
  2. (intransitive) to know; to have heard [with de or sobre ‘about something’]
    Soube da explosão que houve no centro?Have you heard about the downtown explosion?
  3. (intransitive, Portugal) to taste of/like (to have the same taste as) [with a ‘something’]
    Um bom vinho sabe a carvalho.A good wine tastes like oak.
  4. (intransitive, Portugal) to have a pleasant taste
    Como sabe esse vinho!How good does this wine taste!
  5. (transitive) to learn (to become informed of something)
    Eles querem saber mais sobre o projeto.They want to learn more about the project.

Usage notes

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  • saber does not mean to know in the sense of knowing someone (who they are); for that, conhecer should be used instead.
  • Although nonstandard, some speakers change the conjugation for the first person singular depending on the meaning of the verb: it is conjugated as sei if it means to know, but as saibo if it means to taste. Aside from this case, all the other verb forms are homonymous.

Conjugation

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Quotations

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For quotations using this term, see Citations:saber.

Synonyms

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Descendants

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Noun

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saber m (plural saberes)

  1. knowledge; lore (intellectual understanding)
    Synonyms: conhecimento, sabedoria

Derived terms

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Spanish

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin sapere (taste, know). Compare English savvy, savor.

The 1SG reflects an original */ˈsajo/, in common with other Romance languages, of uncertain origin. The present subjunctive forms show consonant metathesis (sapiām > */ˈsajpa/ > Sp. sepa).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /saˈbeɾ/ [saˈβ̞eɾ]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɾ
  • Syllabification: sa‧ber

Verb

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saber (first-person singular present , first-person singular preterite supe, past participle sabido)

  1. to know, to understand (a fact)
    que volverá.I know it'll come back.
    Lo siguiente que ...Next thing I know...
    que yo sepaas far as I know
    Si tú supieras...If you knew...
  2. to know how to do something
    Sabe hablar español.
    He knows how to speak Spanish.
  3. (in the preterite tense) to find out, to learn
  4. to taste (i.e. have a flavour)
    Sabe a pollo.It tastes like chicken.
    Estos plátanos saben bien.These bananas taste good.
  5. to realize, to know (i.e. recognize)
    El hombre no sabe lo talentoso que su hijo es.
    The man doesn't realize how talented his son is.
  6. to tell, to know (i.e. to discern or distinguish if something is the case)
    Siempre es difícil saber si me mientes.
    It's always hard to tell if you're lying to me.
  7. (informal) to figure out
    Todavía estamos tratando de saber qué acaba de pasar.
    We're still trying to figure out what just happened.
  8. to hear from [with de ‘someone’]
    No he sabido nada de ella en meses.
    I haven't heard from her in months.
  9. to hear of, to hear about [with de ‘something’]
  10. to learn, to find out, to know [with de ‘about something’]
  11. (reflexive) to be known
    Ya se sabe que uno de los factores que aceleran esta enfermedad es el estrés.
    It is known that one of the factors that speeds up this disease is stress.
  12. (reflexive) to know (extremely well)
    He oído que te sabes todas las líneas de la película de memoria.
    I heard that you know all the lines of the movie by heart.
  13. (colloquial, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru) Synonym of soler (in several senses: (auxiliary) to be accustomed to; (imperfect) to used to)
    Synonyms: soler, acostumbrar

Conjugation

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The irregular conjugation of saber is the source of two common grammatical errors among Spanish speakers, both of which concern the first-person singular present indicative form:

  • The form sabo is frequent among non-native speakers learning the language, and to a lesser extent also among children who are native speakers[1] (e.g. *(yo) sabo hablar inglés bienI know how to speak English well). The correct conjugated form is (and thus the above example should read (yo) hablar inglés bien), and fluent Spanish speakers generally do not make this mistake; this gave rise to the humorous phrase yo no sabo in Spanish and to the derogatory term no sabo kid in English, both terms referring to the lack of fluency in the language.
  • The form sepo is sometimes found with the meaning "to taste" (e.g. *(yo) sepo a azúcarI taste like sugar), even among fluent Spanish speakers. This usage is proscribed by the Royal Spanish Academy, who maintain that the conjugation of saber is the same regardless of meaning, thus making the correct form in this context as well (i.e., (yo) a azúcar).

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Kathryn Henn-Reinke (2012) “Riverview Elementary School, San Diego, California: Education in Spanish, English, and Mandarin Chinese”, in Considering Trilingual Education (Routledge Research in Education), New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 149:The correct response is <<Yo sé>>, but the error in generalization of this irregular verb is also typical of children who are native speakers of Spanish.

Noun

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saber m (plural saberes)

  1. knowledge

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • English: savvy (via some creole or pidgin)
  • Ido: savar
  • Sabir: sabir

Further reading

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  NODES
Note 5
Project 1