The Verb Saber

The Portuguese verb saberCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb has two different meanings. Most of the time, it means 🧠 to know, but did you know in certain contexts it can also mean 👅 to taste?
O António sabe o caminhoAntónio knows the wayCommunity
O bolo sabe malThe cake tastes badCommunity
Saber is conjugated in the 3rd person singular in both sentences, so it’s written exactly the same, but with an entirely different meaning. In the first example, saber means to know, i.e. António has the knowledge; he knows the way to get somewhere. In the second example, saber means to taste. It’s all about the flavour.
So how do you know the difference? Well, that will depend on the context itself, i.e. the situation you’re in and the rest of the phrase.

Conjugation of the Verb Saber

Before we go any further, let’s first review the verb saber in the present tense:

Saber

to know (about)

Indicativo

Presente

Tu sabes o caminhoYou^sing.,inf. know the wayCommunity Slow audio Play audio saberto know ^factsCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

eu seii knowindicativo > presenteCommunity tu sabesYou ^sing.,inf. knowindicativo > presenteCommunity ele / ela sabeHe / She knowsindicativo > presenteCommunity você sabeyou knowindicativo > presenteCommunity nós sabemoswe knowindicativo > presenteCommunity Slow audio Play audio View Conjugation Verb eles / elas sabemthey knowindicativo > presenteCommunity vocês sabemyou knowindicativo > presenteCommunity

Now we need to tell you about an unusual exception to this conjugation: the 1st-person singular. When the meaning has to do with knowledge, it stays the same:
Eu sei como escrever essa palavraI know how to write that wordCommunity
Não seiI don't knowCommunity Slow audio Play audio
However, when it refers to taste / flavour, you use saibo instead of sei:
Eu saibo a salI taste like saltCommunity
This may seem a bit odd to mention, because we don’t usually tell people what we taste like! (But maybe you’ve been working out or swimming in the ocean all morning and you’re covered in sweat or saltwater?) Remember that this only applies to the 1st-person singular in the present tense (presente do indicativo), so you don’t need to worry about changing any other conjugations.
Now let’s see it in the simple past tense (pretérito perfeito):

Saber

to know (about)

Indicativo

Pretérito Perfeito

Ele não soube como responderHe didn't know how to answer.Community saberto know ^factsCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

eu soubei knewindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity tu soubesteYou ^sing.,inf. knewindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity ele / ela soubeHe / She knewindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity você soubeyou knewindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity nós soubemoswe knewindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity eles / elas souberamthey knewindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity vocês souberamyou knewindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity

Expressions with the Verb Saber

The verb saber comes up in a number of Portuguese expressions. For example:

• As férias foram ótimas, mas souberam a poucoThe holidays were great, but they felt too shortCommunity
  • A more literal translation would be …but they tasted too little, however the implied meaning is that the vacation time / holidays felt like they went by too quickly and the person wanted more time. You could think of it as the feeling of only getting a quick “taste” of the holidays and then they were gone.
• O jantar foi bom. Soube a pato!The dinner was good. It tasted divine!Community
  • Literally: It tasted like duck!
  • Saber a pato can also mean that someone else paid for your meal (which, being free, must have tasted even better!)

Note: You can also add the reflexive pronoun -me, if you’re speaking for yourself and want to add some emphasis.

• • As férias foram ótimas, mas souberam-me a poucoThe holidays were great, but they felt a bit short to me.Community
  • O jantar foi bom. Soube-me a pato!The dinner was good. It tasted divine (to me) !Community

Here’s one more common expression with a seemingly contradictory translation:

• Sei lá!I don't know!Community
  • A more literal translation would be I know there, but the meaning of this phrase is actually quite the opposite. Sei lá is basically a more emphatic way to say I don’t know, as in I have no idea or Oh, I don’t know… Depending on the tone, it may also suggest that they don’t care to know anyway, almost like saying Who knows?
  • Here’s an example of how it could come up in a casual conversation:
    • 👨🏾‍🦱 Ainda tenho imensas coisas para fazerI still have a lot of things to doCommunity
    • 🧔🏻 Imensas coisas… tipo o quê?Lots of things... like what?Community
    • 👨🏾‍🦱 O quê… sei lá… queria cortar o cabelo, precisava de ir buscar umas fotografias que mandei revelar...What… oh, I don’t know… I wanted to get a haircut, I needed to go pick up some photographs I had developed...Community

What About Conhecer?

Just to make it harder on you 😇 , there’s another verb that also means to know: conhecerCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb . This verb is often confused with saber, but the difference becomes more clear once you hear them both in context. Now that you know more about saber, read on to learn how it differs from conhecer: Saber vs. Conhecer