Verbs of Remembering and Forgetting

The most common Spanish verbs of remembering and forgetting are recordar and olvidar, respectively.

Verbs For Remembering and Forgetting

Recordar: Here are some examples of recordar in use. Note that it is conjugated irregularly, following the pattern of — in other words, the of the stem becomes.

• Recuerdo que nuestro equipo era impresionante. I remember that our team was incredible.
• ¿Ya no recuerdas cuando eras un niño? You still don't remember when you where a child?
• Firefox no quiere recordar mis contraseñas. Firefox doesn't want to remember my passwords.
• No recuerdo donde fue mi primer beso. I don't remember where my first kiss was.
• Siempre te recordaremos. We will always remember you.

Etymology:Recordar comes from the Latinrecordari, meaning "to remember." Interestingly,recordar is a cousin of the wordcorazón, meaning "heart," as the heart has been thought of as the center of memory and emotions.

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Spanish Verb Olvidar Conjugation

By Gerald Erichsen

False-friend alert: Except in poor translations from English, recordar is not used for meaning "to record." Verbs used for that purpose include anotar (to write down) and grabar (to make a sound or video recording).

Acordarse de: Also commonly used for "to remember" is the reflexive verb acordarse followed by the preposition de. As you might have guessed, acordarse is also a cousin of corazón. It also is conjugated following the same pattern as recordar.

• Me acuerdo de la brisa que nos acariciaba. I remember the breeze that would caress us.
• ¿Por qué a veces nos acordamos de lo que soñamos y otras veces no? Why do we sometimes remember what we dream and other times we don't?
• La respuesta corta a la pregunta es no, no se acordaron de nosotros. The short answer to the question is no, they didn't remember us.
• No quiero acordarme de ayer. I don't want to remember yesterday.

Rememorar: Spanish does have a cognate of "remember," rememorar, but it isn't used very often, and then usually to refer to an event being memorialized or recognized: Presidente Correa rememoró la masacre del 2 de agosto. President Correa remembered the Aug. 2 massacre.

Olvidar: Olvidar is the only verb in common use that means "to forget." It sometimes is used in the reflexive form, often in the phrase "olvidarse de," which can (but doesn't always) suggest deliberate forgetting. In some areas, olvidarse without the de is common.

• Los Spurs olvidaron el estilo que los había distinguido. The Spurs forgot the style that had distinguished them.
• ¡Ayúdame! Olvidé mi contraseña de Hotmail. Help! I forgot my Hotmail password.
• No voy a olvidar nunca mi visita a Málaga. I'll never forget my visit to Málaga.
• Me olvidaré que fuiste mío y que ahora te perderé. I'll forget that you were mine and that now I will lose you.
• ¿Por qué nos olvidamos de fechas importantes? Why do we forget important dates?
• ¡No olvidemos lo nuestro! Let's not forget what's ours!

Often olvidarse can function like gustar, in that the thing forgotten becomes the subject of the verb, and the person(s) who forgot becomes the indirect object:

• Es un video que no se te olvidará nunca. It's a video you'll never forget. (Literally, it's a video that will never be forgotten to you.)
• Un día se me olvidaron las llaves del carro. One day I forgot the car keys.
• Se me olvidó el coche en el autolavado y cerraba a las 6. I forgot the car in the car wash and it closed at 6.

Etymology: Olvidar comes from the Latin oblitus, "forgetful," making it a cousin of English words such as "oblivion" and "oblivious."

Sources

Sources used in this lesson include Fotolog.com, Devocionalies Cristianos, Internetizado.com, Isaac Arriola, La Voz de Galicia, Soyunalbondiga.com, Mi Rincón del Alma, Taringa.net, Tenisweb, Terra.com, Ubuntu-es.org and 3wilio.