saber
transitive verb
1 (tener conocimiento de) [+dato, información] to know
no sabía que era tu cumpleaños I didn't know it was your birthday; sé que me has mentido I know you've lied to me; lo sé I know; sin saberlo yo without my knowledge; without me knowing
hacer saber algo a algn to inform sb of sth; let sb know about sth
(locuciones) quiero hacerle saber que ... I would like to inform o advise you that ...
el motivo de esta carta es hacerle saber que ... I am writing to inform o advise you that ...
a saber namely
dos planetas, a saber, Venus y la Tierra two planets, namely Venus and Earth
a saber si realmente lo compró I wonder whether he really did buy it; a saber dónde lo tiene guardado I wonder where he has it hidden away
¡anda a saber! (Latinoamérica) God knows!
demasiado bien sé que ... I know only too well that ...
¡no lo sabes bien! not half! (familiar)
cualquiera sabe si ... it's anybody's guess whether ...
¡de haberlo sabido! if only I'd known!
lo dudo, pero nunca se sabe I doubt it, but you never know
para que lo sepas let me tell you; for your information
que yo sepa as far as I know
que sepamos as far as we know
un no sé qué a certain something
un no sé qué de afectado a certain (element of) affectation
¡quién sabe! who knows!
¿quién sabe? who knows?; who can tell?; who's to say?
¡si lo sabré yo! I should know!
tú sabrás (lo que haces) I suppose you know (what you're doing)
¿tú qué sabes? what do you know about it?
¡vete a saber! God knows!
¡vete a saber de dónde ha venido! goodness only knows where he came from!; vete tú a saber your guess is as good as mine
ya lo sabía yo I thought as much
¡yo qué sé!, ¡qué sé yo! how should I know!; search me! (familiar)
cada uno sabe dónde le aprieta el zapato everyone knows their own weaknesses
no sabía dónde meterse he didn't know what to do with himself
no saber ni papa not to know the first thing about sth
2 (enterarse de) to find out
en cuanto lo supimos fuimos a ayudarle as soon as we found out, we went to help him; cuando lo supe when I heard o found out about it; lograron saber el secreto they managed to learn the secret
3 (tener noticias) to hear
desde hace seis meses no sabemos nada de él we haven't heard from him for six months
4 (tener destreza en)
¿sabes ruso? do you speak Russian?; can you speak Russian?; no sé nada de cocina I don't know anything about cookery; I know nothing about cookery
saber hacer algo
sabe cuidar de sí mismo he can take care of himself; he knows how to take care of himself; ¿sabes nadar? can you swim?; saben tratar muy bien al forastero they know how to look after visitors
¿sabes ir? do you know the way?; todavía no sabe orientarse por la ciudad he still doesn't know his way around town; pocos campeones saben perder few champions are good losers; es una persona que sabe escuchar she's a good listener
intransitive verb
1 (tener conocimiento)
saber de algo to know of sth
sabe mucho de ordenadores he knows a lot about computers; sé de un sitio muy bueno I know of a very good place
hace mucho que no sabemos de ella it's quite a while since we heard from her; we haven't had any news from her for quite a while
2 (estar enterado) to know
costó muy caro, ¿sabe usted? it was very expensive, you know
un 5% no sabe, no contesta there were 5% "don't knows"
3 (tener sabor) to taste
no sabe demasiado bien it doesn't taste too good; sabe un poco amargo it tastes rather bitter
saber a to taste of
esto sabe a queso this tastes of cheese; esto sabe a demonio(s) this tastes awful
saberle mal a algn
me supo muy mal lo que hicieron I didn't like what they did; I wasn't pleased o didn't feel good about what they did
no me sabe mal que un amigo me gaste bromas I don't mind a friend playing jokes on me; it doesn't bother me having a friend play jokes on me
pronominal verb
saberse1 (uso enfático)
eso ya me lo sabía yo I already knew that; se lo sabe de memoria she knows it by heart
se las sabe todas he knows every trick in the book (familiar)
2 (uso impersonal) (ser conocido)
ya se sabe que ... it is known that ...; we know that ...; no se sabe nobody knows; it's not known; no se saben las causas the causes are not known o are unknown; ¿se puede saber si ...? can you tell me if o whether ...?; ¿quién es usted, si se puede saber? who are you, may I ask?; sépase que ... let it be known that ...; nunca más se supo de ellos they were never heard of again
(ser descubierto) se supo que ... it was learnt o discovered that ...; por fin se supo el secreto finally the secret was revealed
knowledge; learning
según mi leal saber y entender to the best of my knowledge
saber hacer (Técnica) know-how; (Literat) savoir-faire
saber popular folk wisdom
Por regla general, si saber va seguido de un infinitivo, se traduce por can cuando indica una habilidad permanente y por know how cuando se trata de la capacidad de resolver un problema concreto. La construcción correspondiente habrá de ser can + INFINITIVO sin to o know how + INFINITIVO con to:
Jaime sabe tocar el piano Jaime can play the piano
¿Sabes cambiar una rueda? Do you know how to change a wheel?
Hay que tener en cuenta que know (sin how) nunca puede ir seguido directamente de un infinitivo en inglés.
