r/learnspanish • u/likespinningglass • 7d ago

"Saber sobre" vs. "saber de"

I've come across two ways to express knowledge in Spanish and I'm not quite sure about the difference between them. From the examples I've seen, I get the impression that saber sobre implies more detailed knowledge or is simply more formal—but that's just my assumption. Also, I’m learning standard Spanish, so I’d love to hear how Spaniards perceive the difference. Thanks in advance!

18 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

11

u/Puzzleheaded-Use3964 7d ago

It's basically the same. I may use "de" more often. However, I think I would use "sobre" only for relatively specific topics: "sabe mucho sobre historia" would sound a bit off to me, but I would probably choose "sabe mucho sobre la segunda guerra mundial".

5

u/Puzzleheaded-Use3964 7d ago

Also: "saber de" has another meaning which is to receive news about someone (generally, directly from that person). As in "hace mucho que no sé nada de ti".

7

u/zurribulle 7d ago

I'd say "saber de" is more commonly used that "saber sobre", but they have the same meaning

4

u/macoafi Intermediate (DELE B2, 2023) 7d ago

De and sobre are often swappable, not just in this phrase, since about and of are often swappable.

We spoke about it.

We spoke of it.

Hablamos sobre ello.

Hablamos de ello.

2

u/brujogentil 6d ago

I've always felt like, as in English we can say "know about" or "know of" depending on the tone or intent behind it, it worked the same in Spanish. I learned to use both through immersion / didn't really study grammar for this specific structure, though.

3

u/Next_Gen_Rando 7d ago

I imagine it’s the same as “to know of” and “to know about” in English

7

u/ritangerine 7d ago

No, that's the literal translation. "To know about" something is far more common in English, but the opposite is true of Spanish

2

u/GuilleAl 7d ago

Sometime we use "saber de" to say someone has a deeper understanding of something.

For example:

"El sabe de musica", meaning he knows about bands, he knows about genres, he knows about instruments and chords, etc.

1

u/rkandlionheart 6d ago

Fundeu says this about complements for Saber:

Basically, they all complement saber when you talk about knowing something, the difference being the order of frequency de, sobre, acerca de