In the singular, connaître follows a typical s/s/t pattern. In the plural, the stem stays the same, with a double s.

connaître is conjugated as follows:

connaître
je connais nous connaissons
tu connais vous connaissez
elle, il, on connaît elles, ils connaissent

In the singular, the 's' and 't' are not pronounced, so the singular forms are pronounced the same.
In the third-person plural, the 'ent' is not pronounced.
The circumflex does not alter the pronunciation.

Click on a verb form to hear the pronunciation.

The 's' is doubled in the plural because in French a single 's' between two consonants is pronounced like a 'z': the double 's' represents more accurately the 's' sound of the pronunciation.

The circumflex is added to every 'i' (in this verb only) which comes just before a 't'. The 'î' never comes before an 's'.

Est-ce que tu connais Marc ? C'est mon meilleur ami.

Ma mère connaît une femme qui connaît un couple qui connaissent un vieil homme qui connaît une amie de Brigitte Bardot. C'est impressionnant, non ?


Also conjugated according to this pattern are:

paraître to seem
apparaître to appear
disparaître to disappear

-er verbs / -ir verbs / -re verbs
être / avoir / faire / aller / prendre / connaître
venir, tenir / pouvoir, vouloir / savoir, devoir / dormir, sortir, servir
lire, dire, écrire / voir, croire