> **Possible Duplicate:**  
>  [How should I choose between [知]{し}る and
> わかる?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1659/how-should-i-choose-
> between-%e7%9f%a5%e3%81%97%e3%82%8b-and-%e3%82%8f%e3%81%8b%e3%82%8b)

I often get puzzled when I ask a question and the other person says 分からない or
分からん, when they seem to understand but they don't have the answer. In which
case I would expect them to say 知らない. Am I mistaken, or is this a nuance of
Japanese?
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2011-12-28T14:25:14.477
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2013-09-27T23:36:01.507
2017-04-13T12:43:43.857
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question
word-choice slang
Why do some people use 分からない, when they mean 知らない?
Maybe you are bothered too much with the translations "know" and "understand".
I feel that these translation are not that bad, but they may only be
reflecting some shades of the meanings, and do not match precisely. The
distinction is like this:

  * 知る: To objectively come to know (have in mind) an established fact. (知っている is 'to know'.) Does not require thinking (computation); it is just about memory.
  * 分かる: To subjectively grasp/accept the mechanism/reasoning/meaning behind something, or being able to handle/analyze/conclude something through thinking. As the kanji indicates, this verb is related to `分ける`, which means 'to divide', which leads to 'analyzing'.

In case of a question given, if it is something you need to think of or if it
is a question that you have heard for the first time (which is the majority of
cases), then `分かる`/`分からない` is appropriate. If it is something that you either
simply know or not, then `知っている`/`知らない` is appropriate (Be aware that it is
not `知る`/`知らない`).
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2011-12-30T10:25:55.720
4126
2011-12-30T10:53:51.017
2011-12-30T10:53:51.017
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answer