Saber is one of the most important irregular verbs in Spanish — it appears in virtually every GCSE and A-Level task.
Practice saber free →Saber means 'to know' — specifically knowing facts, information or how to do something, as opposed to knowing people or places (which uses conocer). Sé la respuesta (I know the answer); sé nadar (I can swim). It is irregular: the yo form is the short sé, and the preterite (supe, supo) shifts meaning to 'found out'. The saber versus conocer distinction is a classic exam point: facts and skills take saber; familiarity with people and places takes conocer.
Quick facts
Saber (to know) is a high-frequency irregular -er verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
Sé la respuesta (I know the answer); no sé (I don't know).
Saber + infinitive: sé conducir (I can drive).
In the preterite it means found out: supe la verdad.
Saber a means to taste of: sabe a limón (it tastes of lemon).
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
Saber means to know a fact or skill; conocer means to know a person or place. Sé nadar = I know how to swim. Conozco a María = I know María. Mixing them up loses marks.
Only the yo form is irregular and very short. All other forms are perfectly regular -er endings on the stem sab-.
Completely irregular stem: sup-. Use the standard preterite -er endings.
Irregular future stem: sabr-. Apply the regular future endings to sabr-.
Uses the same irregular stem as the future: sabr-.
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice saber now →Three questions. Press Enter to check each answer.
yo: sé, tú: sabes, él: sabe, nosotros: sabemos, vosotros: sabéis, ellos: saben
Saber is irregular.
Use saber in multiple tenses to show range — present, preterite and future at minimum. This is a key criterion for higher GCSE marks.
Verbs that are easy to confuse with saber or that behave like it.
This reference is written for UK GCSE and A-Level Spanish learners and their teachers. It is designed for exam revision: every form is checked against standard conjugation rules, and the examples reflect the registers and topics that come up in the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas specifications. Saber is a high-frequency verb and appears often in exam papers. For active recall, use the free practice tool rather than only reading the tables.