I know the place
This came up on my holiday thread.
Polenta wrote : I already knew the place...
...talking about a place she had visited before.
Alba said this sounded "off", to my utter surprise.
So I asked...how about present tense:
Do you know Paris? Yes, I know the place.
And she said:
yep, not quite right and hard to explain why not but I don't think I've ever heard a native English speaker say, "Do you know New Orleans?" or "Yes, I know the place." I would say, "Have you ever been to New Orleans?" "Yes, I've been there." -
This really surprises me. I am completely stunned!
Native speakers: Do you agree? Any thoughts on why or why not?
6 Answers
This came up on my holiday thread. Polenta wrote : I already knew the place...
...talking about a place she had visited before.
Alba said this sounded "off", to my utter surprise.
So I asked...how about present tense:
Do you know Paris? Yes, I know the place.
And she said:
yep, not quite right and hard to explain why not but I don't think I've ever heard a native English speaker say, "Do you know New Orleans?" or "Yes, I know the place." I would say, "Have you ever been to New Orleans?" "Yes, I've been there." -
This really surprises me. I am completely stunned!
Native speakers: Do you agree? Any thoughts on why or why not?
I already knew the place.....
I'm not sure if I have ever heard such a thing. It is correct grammatically but it just sounds foreign.
However...I know Chicago like the back of my hand is fine.
Do you know New Orleans?
Also, never heard it said that way.
In the U.S. we would say: Are you familiar with New Orleans?
If someone asked me "Do you know New Orleans?" I would probably say. Yeah, what about it? Meaning either "What happened there now?" or "What do you want to tell me about it"
Instead of "Do you know New Orleans?" we would say "How well do you know New Orleans?" and that would sound just fine.
Maybe the problem with "know" in all of these uses is that we tend to use "know" much more with the meaning of "to know a fact" rather than "to be familiar with" unless talking about a human being. Basically the difference between saber and conocer. It needs some sort of modifier such as "How well...?" to kick in the meaning of conocer in our minds.
To use it with a place, it only sounds natural to me if it is combined with an idiom such as I stated before...I know it like the back of my hand or the modifier "well."
Do you know Paris?
Yes, of course, it is the capital of France. Everybody knows that! 
Well, let's go back to "I already knew the place" Let me see if I can think of a way to make it fit in and sound natural.
I was in Chicago last week visiting some buddies. I thought I already knew Chicago but these guys showed me some places I'd never been to. (yes, I ended a sentence with a preposition...If someone said "these guys showed me some places to which I had never been" I would know that American was not their first language. )
This would sound OK, but it would sound more natural if I threw in "like the back of my hand" after knew.
If a Spanish speaker says "I know the place", it's perfectly understandable. This means that the person is speaking English like Spanish!
Spanish has two verbs: saber and conocer.
In Spanish it's correct to say: Conozco Nueva York. No conozco Aruba.
In English you would say: I am familiar with New York. I have not been to Aruba.
I hope it helps.
I know the expression "be familiar with" and of course I'd never translate it as "ser familiar con"(awful) or "estar familiar con" (more awful) but as "estar familiarizado con", which we use normally in Spanish.
For sure I would have never said : "estoy familiarizada con la ciudad de Colonia". I really had in my mind the Spanish "Conozco la ciudad de Colonia" and of course never "Sé la ciudad de Colonia".The last sentence would be what we could call "una aberración".
I promise I will take all your recommendations into consideration.
This means that the person is speaking English like Spanish!
Seeeeeeeeeee, sad story, I actually thought that I spoke English like an English speaker 
But we would use it in a question form, as in "How well do you know Chicago?" meaning how familiar are you with where things are located, or where certain streets are. And a person could stop someone on the street and ask directions by saying, "Excuse me, I don't know Chicago very well. Could you please tell me where X is?"
I know it seems like a subtle difference, but "Do you know Chicago?" does sound "off" but "How well do you know Chicago?" does not sound off.
I made more or less the same comment to Polenta. In fact, I started to write her a pm about how I would use "to know" but realised as I was part way through writing it that I was not explaining it very well and I would probably confuse her even more. So I just deleted it lol. I'll try again in this post!
It is natural to say I know a place - as in a bar, or cafe etc. But we don't really say I know a place - as in city or town etc. With city or town we would probably add a little more.
For example:
Person #1 - Do you fancy going for a beer? Not bothered where, you choose.
Person #2 - Yes, why not. I know a nice little bar on the edge of town, let's GO there. (ie I have been to this bar before, it's good and I recommend it)
or
Person #2 - Yes, why not. I know OF a bar on the edge of town, let's TRY that (ie I've heard of it, but never been. Let's go see what it's like)
Person #1 - I'm going to Valencia for my holidays this summer, can't wait.
Person #2 - I know it well, it's a lovely city. You will like it there! (ie, I have been and I recommend it) Note!!! We would not say just ....I know it. Without the 'well', or 'quite well', or whatever - to just say "I know it" doesn't sound natural and the sort of thing a foreigner would say.
Hope this has helped and not added to the confusion lol
