45
Remembering and forgetting
This chapter examines the use of verbs such as acordarse de, ‘to remember’, recordar,
‘to remember’, ‘to remind’, olvidarse, olvidar, ‘to forget’, and the constructions
associated with them.45.1 Saying whether one remembers something or someone
To say whether one remembers something or someone, we use either acordarse de or
recordar, ‘to remember’. Acordarse de is used to refer to the involuntary process of
remembering or not remembering something or someone, e.g. (No) me acuerdo de él,
‘I (don’t) remember him’. Recordar can either refer to an involuntary process, in which
case it has the same meaning as acordarse de, or to the voluntary act of causing
someone to remember something or someone, in which case it translates into English
as ‘to remind’, e.g. Recuérdame que tengo que hacer una llamada, ‘Remind me that I
have to make a telephone call’.When reference is made to concrete things, such as ‘Sorry, but I don’t remember his
telephone number’, most speakers will use acordarse de, as in Lo siento, pero no me
acuerdo de su número de teléfono. But if the idea is that of evoking something or
someone, in the sense of having memories, for example ‘I will always remember the
day when we met’, most people will use recordar, as in Siempre recordaré el día que
nos conocimos. However, the difference between one meaning and the other is not
always clear and the two verbs are sometimes interchangeable.45.1.1 Acordarse de is used normally in the following constructions:45.1.1.1 (No) acordarse de +noun or noun phrase:
No me acuerdo de su número de teléfono.
I don’t remember his telephone number.Me acuerdo de Pablo, pero no de su mujer.
I remember Pablo, but not his wife.45.1.1.2 (No) acordarse de +pronoun
The accompanying pronoun can be a personal one (e.g.él, ‘him’, ella, ‘her’, usted,
‘you’), a demonstrative (e.g. eso, ‘that’, esto, ‘this’), or an indefinite pronoun (e.g.
nadie, ‘no one’, ‘nobody’, nada, ‘nothing’).