Lección 6.8 Saber/Conocer

In the excercise in Lesson 6.8 there is the phrase “Sé que no comes pescado” (I know that you don't eat fish)

In this example, why do you not use the infinitive “comer” as the 2nd verb? Am I overlooking something?

Thanks!
 

It is an independent phrase, so it gets it's own verb.

Phrase 1: I know

Phrase 2: You don't like to eat fish.

They are independent because they can stand on their own and thus get a conjugated verb.

Hope that helps!

We generally consider that in each sentence the first verb is conjugated to match the tense and subject but actually it is in each clause rather than sentence. It is just that most sentences only have one clause.

In this case however, the sentence is made up of two clauses. Each clause has it's own subject and verb.

This is actually the same in English here in that the verb ‘know’ is conjugated in the present and to match the subject ‘I’ and then we have the word ‘that’ which introduces a secondary clause. As soon as we hit the secondary clause, the rules reset and we use another subject (you), followed by another conjugated verb (don't).

You will see this a lot in English with the word ‘that’ and in Spanish with the word ‘que’.

I hope that he arrives soon. - Espero que llegue pronto.
(both ‘hope’ and ‘arrive’ are conjugated because they are the first verbs in their respective clauses)

Scott & Aaron, Thanks for the help gentlemen. That makes sense.