English: I knew who was invited, but I didn't know the other details.
French: Je savais qui était invité, mais je ne connaissais pas les autres détails.
I got this wrong. My thinking was that 'who' was a direct object and a person or persons, therefore connaître. I would have used connaître in the second part, again détails is the direct object, but I was influenced by my error in the first use of 'to know '; hence I chose savoir. Please explain why the first calls for savoir. Thanks.
Frank and Penny,
when followed by another verb or verb-clause, it will be ‘ savoir ‘. The clauses can be introduced with que or qui, or other relevant conjunction. Here it is ‘ qui était invité ‘, and ‘ qui ‘ is the subject of était.
‘Connaitre’ is not right in this context. Connaitre does not ‘ introduce ‘ another verb or verb-clause.
Savoir, however, can sometimes be used with nouns.
Connaître vs savoir = to know something vs to know how to do in French
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/savoir-vs-connaitre/
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level