Saber vs. Conocer - Difficult cases

Question

Hey all, I just took the saber/conocer quiz and had a couple questions on ones I got wrong. Any elaboration would be greatly appreciated!

1) "Mi profesor ___ mucho la literatura moderna. (My teacher knows all about modern literature.)"

I put "sabe" and got marked as incorrect. The explanation said that saber or conocer is acceptable when describing knowledge of a subject/learning discipline, but that conocer was better in this case "given the context". Can someone please elaborate what about this context makes conocer a better fit?

The only thing I can think of is that you can be familiar with books, like movies or people. If so, would that mean if the sentence was about physics, sabe would be acceptable?

2) "¿Tú __ de un buen sitio de internet? (Do you know a good web site?)"

For this one I put "conoces" and got marked incorrect, with the explanation that it was "learned knowledge". I felt, however, that a website is more of something you become familiar with through experience/familiarity. Would you still use "sabes" if the question was "Tu _ de una buena pelicula?" for example?

Thanks in advance.

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Answer 1

The first is the same as to be familiar with something with a nuance almost of a personal relationship ...conocer. I wouldn´t use it with physics because this doesn´t seem like something very personal, but maybe Albert Einstien would have.

The second is to have knowledge of or about something, notice it is sabes de.... and not just sabes.

Thank you. The "de" is a good point to notice. How about if the question was "Do you know a good movie?", without a de? Would that still be sabes? - jaypulz, Apr 3, 2016

For this I wouldn´t use "conocer" at all. With this particular sentence construction, "de" must be used - 005faa61, Apr 3, 2016

That makes sense. "Do you know a good movie?" is kind of an awkwardly phrased question in Englsh too haha. "Do you know OF any good movies" would make more sense. Thank you for your help! :) - jaypulz, Apr 3, 2016

Answer 2

"Mi profesor conoce mucho la literatura moderna"

"Mi profesor sabe mucho de/sobre literatura moderna"

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¿Conoces alguna peli buena?

¿Sabes de alguna peli buena?

very helpful, thank you! - jaypulz, Apr 3, 2016