Savoir vs. Connaître

Question

Tu sais, le célèbre couturier ?  Why is "sais" used rather than "connaiss”? I thought:  Savoir means "to know a fact", while connaître means to know a person or to be familiar with a person, place or thing.  Merci!

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi White,
There is a comma after 'tu sais' which means that le célèbre couturier isn't the object of the verb savoir, in this case it is just a throw-away comment -
you know = tu sais 
But you are correct in saying that if there was no comma and the question was -
Do you know the famous designer?
it would indeed be the verb 'connaitre'
Tu connais le célèbre couturier ... ? Do you know the famous designer ...?
Whereas in this case, it is -
you know, the famous designer.