Learn English Expressions for Forgetting & Remembering | Everyday Vocabulary

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(medical equipment beeping)

- Ahh, she's awake!

I'm Dr. House.

- What? Wait, where?

Who am I?

Where am I?

- You're in the hospital.

You're Becky.

And you're pretty cool.

- Wait, who are you?

Who's this?

- Have you got amnesia, love?

- Becky, this is Kyle,

your boyfriend.

- What? No! No! No!

I wouldn't date someone who wears sunglasses inside.

- You haven't got any recollection of us together?

- I got nothing.

- You're the boyfriend!

Say something!

Jog her memory!

- Yeah, yeah, I might have something.

♪ Remember me ♪

♪ Though I have to say goodbye ♪

♪ Remember me ♪

♪ Don't let it make you cry ♪

- I do remember you!

- Yes!

- Kyle!

- Yes!

- You're a douche!

- So cool.

Today's lesson is all about memory

and the most useful expressions that you can use

for remembering things,

and what was the other thing?

(snapping fingers)

First, quickly, what's the difference between

remember and remind?

These two verbs are always confused.

So

they both talk about having a memory inside your head,

but

remember specifically means

to have and to keep a memory in your head,

like: If you go out somewhere,

just remember to take your key.

Keep that memory inside your head.

Don't lose it.

And remind means that something or someone

puts the memory into your head.

Again: I'm listening to our song right now.

It reminds me of you.

So in that situation, the song makes me remember.

It gives me the memory of something.

It reminds me of the thing.

I remember your face when I listen to this song.

All right, so if you are like me,

then every time you meet someone new, this happens.

- Hello, how're you doing?

I'm Maria.

- You all right?

I'm Aly!

What was your name again?

Yeah, really every time.

But did you notice,

when you want to ask someone to repeat certain information

that maybe you forgot,

we ask it like this:

Sorry, what was your name again?

I know, it's still your name now,

but the verb, we make it past,

because we forgot, and you told me in the past.

And also notice, when we ask you to repeat something,

we will add again, like in these examples:

Sorry, my memory is terrible!

What was your job again?

Oh, no worries.

I'm a painter.

What did you do again?

Yes, it's still happening now,

but that verb, change it to the past tense and add again,

because you're asking them to repeat themselves.

What was the next thing?

Sorry, I lost my train of thought.

You know those times when you have a thought

and then you have another thought,

but then you lose it and you forget everything?

In those times, we say that you lose your train of thought.

So right now, I just lost my train of thought.

Sorry.

When you forget something very quickly

or in a careless way,

we say that that thing slipped your mind.

It slipped my mind, for example:

- Did you not hear any name?

Or did you forget it or what?

- I heard what you said.

I just...

It slipped my mind.

When we talk about remembering things,

these are the most common expressions.

- You don't remember my name?

I told you five seconds ago.

- It'll come back to me, I promise.

Remember the phrasal verb, come back?

It means return.

The memory will return.

I just need something to jog my memory,

and then I'll remember.

I came over here, I introduced myself.

To jog your memory, to shake your brain,

to do something in order to help you remember something.

Now, when you're trying to remember something,

no, nothing, you just can't remember,

we say these:

- Oh my god, I believe in you!

It's easy!

What's my name?

Maaa?

- Sorry, I'm drawing a blank!

My mind is a blank, sorry!

When you draw a blank or your mind is a blank,

it means there's no memory in there, it's nothing.

- No, no, come on.

Mariii?

- I've got nothing, sorry!

Now, when I have this face,

look at that stupid face,

I'm looking or I'm staring blankly at someone or something,

it means nothing is happening inside here.

- It rhymes with Korea?

- Don't tell me.

It's on the tip of my tongue.

Something is on the tip of your tongue.

The words are there, but you just can't say them.

You just need something to jog your memory, a tiny bit,

and then you'll remember.

Oh,

I had it, and now it's gone.

Yeah, no, I lost it.

Some of you want the more formal options,

so let's talk about that.

To have a recollection of something or someone.

A recollection, it's a memory,

but it's just a more formal word for memory.

Pronunciation.

Recollection.

Re

co

llec

tion.

Recollection.

The stress is here.

Recollection.

But that's a noun, and it works like this.

- So you don't have any recollection of my name?

Nothing?

- I have no recollection of your name at all!

A formal verb that you can use would be recall.

Pronunciation.

Recall.

That's a schwa.

Re

call.

The stress is on the second syllable.

Recall.

If you don't remember, you don't recall.

That's a more formal way of saying I don't remember.

And we use it like this:

- Do you usually have trouble recalling names?

- Well, weirdly, I can actually recall

every one of my exes,

because it's actually easy, they're all called Maria.

It's really weird.

Why are you angry?

What did I do?

So next time that you forget something in English,

just remember this lesson and...

I was going to say something then.

This is embarrassing.

No, I remember, I remember.

I've got a new Papa Teach Me ebook.

You can find worksheets on my favorite lessons

including this one on my Patreon.

You'll see the link for that in the description.

And I'll see you in the next class

if I remember when that is.

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