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I'm writing a story where one man says to another man in German, "I know who you are." They only just met, and they wouldn't use "du". Is this right: "Ich weiss wer Sie sind"?

And does it need a comma after "weiss"?

EDIT: They just met. They are spies, and both are undercover. The man speaking means he knows the other man is a spy, and he thinks he knows which side the other man is working for. He doesn't mean he knows his name, but he knows his role.

Megan Reddaway
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  • Welcome to German Language SE. The answer to your question probably depends considerably on the context and what exactly the person saying this wants to express (e.g., what level of knowing are we talking about). Can you please [edit] your question to add more details. – Wrzlprmft Apr 27 '17 at 11:48
  • In case you don't know the name but rather the "profession" as in your spy example, you'd rather say "I know what you are" both in English and in German than "who". – tofro Apr 27 '17 at 13:15
  • "Ich weiß, wer Sie wirklich sind." ("I know who you really are.") could but emphasis on the secret identity aspect. – Arminius Apr 27 '17 at 15:27

3 Answers3

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The literal translation would be

Ich weiß, wer Sie sind!

One could argue that this would mean that the man saying this does know the other man personally (his name etc.).

If you would like to emphasize that the man does not know the other man personally but knows his "role" you could use something like

Ich weiß, was Sie sind!

That translates to "I know what you are!". It sounds a bit strange, but maybe that's exactly what you need to make clear that one spy knows that the other man is a spy, too.

IQV
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joern
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  • Indeed a great answer - though in the specific context given, "Ich weiß, für wen Sie arbeiten!" ("I know who you're working for!") might work, too. – O. R. Mapper Apr 27 '17 at 21:06
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There is another possibility: kennen (to know [someone], as in to be acquainted with someone, in contrast with wissen which is used to talk about knowing a certain fact).

There is a general movement toward more and more use of du. Without seeing more of your story, it's hard to rule out du.

So the sentence might look like this:

Ich kenne dich.

An advantage of "dich" here is that your English readers might have an easier time understanding it.

aparente001
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Recognizing a person means having enough knowledge of the persons characteristics to recognize them again even when some of those characteristics have changed.

Knowledge in German is: Wissen or Kenntniss

Re-cognizing in German: wieder-erkennen

The verb belonging to Wissen is wissen. The first person singular of wissen is "weiss".

The first person singular of wiedererkennen is "erkenne wieder".

Ich weiss, wer sie sind.

If you want to say that you have recognized a person:

Ich erkenne sie wieder.

DisplayName
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    Even ignoring the missing (but required) capitalization of 'Sie', you are mixing up different meanings of 'to know' and suggest translations way off what is actually asked for. 'Kennen' and 'wissen' are not synonyms, although both can be translated with 'to know' in English. Even if I know who Donald Trump is, I do not know him. → Obwohl ich weiß wer Donald Trump ist, kenne ich ihn nicht. The usage of 'weiß' and 'kenne' is not interchangeable in the German translation. – jarnbjo Apr 27 '17 at 15:02
  • Sie is only capitalized when writing letters not when using reported speech. 2. I have updated my post with references. Wissen und Kenntniss are synonyms. Therefore wieder-erkennen also means knowing who a person is. There are different degrees of knowing a person of course. Still if you know a person you can recognize them. Otherwise you'd not know them. Knowing a name like Donald Trump is not the same as knowing the person Donald Trump. But in both cases you know something. You have mixed those two cases up however. – DisplayName Apr 28 '17 at 10:43
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    You are wrong. In writing, there is very well a difference between 'sie' and 'Sie' independent of wether you are writing letters or reporting speech. 'sie' is the 3rd person, singular feminine or plural pronoun ('she' or 'they') and 'Sie' is the polite form of the 2nd person singular or plural pronoun ('you'). – jarnbjo Apr 28 '17 at 11:49