olvidar

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *oblītāre, a frequentative based on Latin oblīvīscor (via its past participle oblītus).

olvidar (first-person singular indicative present olvido, past participle olvidáu)

1. to forget

   Synonym: escaecer

From Spanish olvidar, from Vulgar Latin *oblītāre. Replaced the inherited Old Portuguese obridar.^[1]

• Hyphenation: ol‧vi‧dar

olvidar (first-person singular present olvido, first-person singular preterite olvidei, past participle olvidado)

1. (literary, poetic) to forget

   Synonyms: esquecer, deslembrar

   Antonyms: lembrar, recordar

   A nobreza de seus esforços não merece ser olvidada.

   The nobleness of their efforts does not deserve to be forgotten.

   Pelo bem de nossa amizade, olvidarei teus insultos.

   For the good of our friendship, I will forget your insults.

   Infelizmente todos nos olvidámos dos nossos deveres.

   Unfortunately all of us have forgotten our duties.

Inherited from Old Spanish olbidar, olvidar, from Vulgar Latin *oblītāre, frequentative of Latin oblīvīscor (via its past participle oblītus).

• IPA^(key): /olbiˈdaɾ/ [ol.β̞iˈð̞aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ol‧vi‧dar

olvidar (first-person singular present olvido, first-person singular preterite olvidé, past participle olvidado)

1. (transitive or reflexive with de) to forget

   Lo olvidé. ― I forgot it.

   Me olvidé de mencionar el asunto. ― I forgot to mention the matter.

   Ya olvidé lo que le dije. ― I already forgot what I told him.

   • 1974, José Luis Perales, “Porque te vas”, performed by Jeanette:

     Todas las promesas de mi amor se irán contigo / Me olvidarás, me olvidarás

     All the promises of my love will leave with you / You'll forget me, you'll forget me

   • 1985, Gabriel García Márquez, El amor en los tiempos del cólera:

     Hildebranda no había de olvidar jamás la primera visión del hombre que apareció en el estribo, […]

     Hildebranda was not to ever forget her first sight of the man that appeared on the stirrup, ...

2. (reflexive or irreflexive, transitive or intransitive with de) to leave behind, to forget

   Me olvidé el pasaporte en el hotel. ― I forgot my passport in the hotel.

   Nos olvidábamos de los móviles. ― We used to forget our mobile phones.

   • 1985, Gabriel García Márquez, El amor en los tiempos del cólera:

     […] él mismo estaba entonces con un ala rota, atolondrado y disperso, y decidido a cambiarlo todo y a olvidarse de todo lo demás en la vida por el relámpago de amor de Fermina Daza.

     ... he himself [Dr. Juvenal Urbino] was then with a broken wing, scatterbrained and unfocused, and yet decided to change it all, to forget (about) everything else in his life, all for his love at first sight for Fermina Daza.

3. (reflexive, intransitive) to elude, to escape, to slip someone's mind (be forgotten by)

   (A mí) Se me ha olvidado. ― It has eluded me.

   Ya se me olvidó qué llevaba puesto. ― I already forgot what he was wearing.

According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), there are four grammatically correct ways to say "to forget" using olvidar; namely, the verb can be:

• transitive;
• reflexive and transitive (this form is mostly used with the meaning "to forget" as in "to accidentally leave something behind"; for other meanings, such as "to fail to remember something" or "to deliberately not do something", the RAE discourages its use, though it remains common in colloquial speech);
• reflexive and intransitive, with preposition de;
• reflexive and with the subject and object seemingly "swapped" (similarly to verbs like gustar or encantar); i.e., the thing that is forgotten is the subject, while the one who forgets is the indirect object. In this structure, a more accurate translation for olvidar into English is "to elude".

Hence, all of the above sentences are equally valid grammatically:

(Ella) olvidó las llaves. / (Ella) se olvidó las llaves. / (Ella) se olvidó de las llaves. / (A ella) se le olvidaron las llaves. ― She forgot the keys.

(Yo) siempre olvido llamarte. / (Yo) siempre me olvido llamarte.^† / (Yo) siempre me olvido de llamarte. / (A mí) siempre se me olvida llamarte. ― I always forget to call you. (^†Colloquial, not recommended by the RAE)

Note that in the last sentence structure, the object is indirect (hence, ...se le olvidaron... instead of *...se la olvidaron... in the above example.)

• acordar
• recordar

• → Portuguese: olvidar
• → Sardinian: olvidare, olvidai (Campidanese)

• “olvidar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• “olvidar”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN