This week’s Spanish word of the week is olvidar.
Olvidar is a verb that means to forget.
To hear how olvidar is pronounced, you can click the icon below:
No olvides el pasaporte. Don’t forget your passport.
You can use olvidar in three ways when translating to forget: olvidar, olvidarse de or the construction olvidársele algo a alguien.
¿Te has olvidado de lo que me prometiste? or ¿Has olvidado lo que me prometiste? Have you forgotten what you promised me?
Al final consiguió olvidarse de ella. or Al final consiguió olvidarla. In the end he managed to forget her.
No te olvides de mí. or No me olvides. Don’t forget me.
When forgetting is accidental, the construction with se me, se le etc is the commonest option – it emphasizes the involuntary aspect. Here, the object of forget becomes the subject of olvidar:
Se me olvidó. I forgot.
Se te olvidó su nombre. You forgot her name.
Se me ha olvidado lo que dijiste esta mañana. I’ve forgotten what you said this morning.
Come back next week to read about our next Spanish word of the week!
