# כן before a verb



## GnomeChomsky

Hi,

I'm wondering about the use of כן
before a verb as in 
אני כן מכיר את הבחור הזה
or any sentence in which it preceeds the verb.  What exactly does it contribute to the meaning?  Is it emphatic, like English "I DO know him" or "I do so understand that" etc, or something else.  Especially native speaker, when else could you use  כן ?  I am assuming this is the same word as/related to "yes", is that how others interprete it?

Thanks a lot


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## yuval9

yes, you were right. 
i DO know that guy.

כן also has other meanings.
הוא כן - he is honest (כן = honest). 
כמו כן - moreover. על כן - therefore. אף על פי כן - nevertheless... (i think כן means "so" in these cases)


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## GnomeChomsky

Thanks!

Does anyone know if there is an equivalent use of "yes" in Arabic (or any language you might speak)

Thanks again


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## ramariel

I would say that כן is used with a verb when there is a negation in the question or affirmation like:
אתה לא מכיר אותו? אתה לא מכיר אותו.  ו
Then the response is: 
אני כן מכיר אותו, או: דווקא כן.


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## GnomeChomsky

Thanks for the useful information.  Can it ever be used with negation? Say if someone is insisting a statement is true like "You do know him", to mean, something like "No really, I don't" as in:
אני כן לא מכיר אותו

I assume this is bad, but I just want to check.  

Also, can it be used with verbs like אסור and  מותר 
like
כן  מותר to mean "it IS allowed"


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## ramariel

GnomeChomsky said:


> Say if someone is insisting a statement is true like "You do know him", to mean, something like "No really, I don't" as in:
> אני כן לא מכיר אותו



In this case the right way to say it is:
אני באמת לא מכיר אותו


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## ramariel

GnomeChomsky, you didn't ask, but I kept thinking. If you change the place of באמת
in the sentence you change the emphasis and also a bit of the meaning. If you say אני באמת מכיר אותו or אני באמת לא מכיר אותו, you mean you really know/don't know him. But if you say אני לא מכיר אותו באמת, then you say that you may know him, but not enough.


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## Ali Smith

מתי נסע דייויד לאמריקה?
לפני שבוע.
האם אשתו גם כן נסעה?
כן. הם נסעו יחד.

In this conversation does the third line mean "Did his wife too indeed travel?"? How would you translate כן here?


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## shalom00

גם כן is an expression.
It is גם with an extra emphasis.


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## Ali Smith

Why, thank you! I didn't know that. But then how would you translate the sentence?


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## Drink

Did his wife travel as well?


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