<p>Both sentence means "do you know him?". "Probably" is not necessary, because these are very direct ways to ask questions.</p>

<p>For you interest, an even more concise version is "你认识他不？" </p>

<p>Well, all these expression are spoken language because of the function of these sentences.</p>

<p>For more details of how a complete sentence is changed into correct shorter versions, please see the diagram as below:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4xnuX.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4xnuX.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The most complete version "你是认识他还是不认识他？" is almost never used unless in an interrogation. It sounds almost like "你tm到底是认识他还是不认识他啊！？", which is rude. Extra words tend to show superfluous emotion like anger or impatience. I put it here because you can see how other shorten versions can be related to this origin. Other expressions are fine and often used.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-29T17:27:09.433Z
2020-04-30T14:15:25.403Z
2020-04-30T14:15:25.403Z
River
<p>What would be the difference between 你认识不认识他？ and 你认不认识他？ Are they the translated with the same "Do you probably know him?</p>

<grammar><difference>
Questions with multi-syllable verbs, e.g. 你认识不认识他？ vs. 你认不认识他？
# Questions with multi-syllable verbs, e.g. 你认识不认识他？ vs. 你认不认识他？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-25)

What would be the difference between 你认识不认识他？ and 你认不认识他？ Are they the translated with the same "Do you probably know him?

**Tags:** grammar, difference


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-04-29. Score: 2

Both sentence means "do you know him?". "Probably" is not necessary, because these are very direct ways to ask questions.

For you interest, an even more concise version is "你认识他不？"

Well, all these expression are spoken language because of the function of these sentences.

For more details of how a complete sentence is changed into correct shorter versions, please see the diagram as below:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4xnuX.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/4xnuX.png)

The most complete version "你是认识他还是不认识他？" is almost never used unless in an interrogation. It sounds almost like "你tm到底是认识他还是不认识他啊！？", which is rude. Extra words tend to show superfluous emotion like anger or impatience. I put it here because you can see how other shorten versions can be related to this origin. Other expressions are fine and often used.


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