Remember him

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on November 26, 2014 at 6:38pm

I think both are correct  but it may (I think) be more usual to use "se souvenir de quelqu'un" if it is a person  rather than a thing or an event.

But I am not sure about this.

To get rid of font colours I sometimes  try editing my post after I have posted (it can be more successful then  but you only have  15 minutes to do it.)

Sometimes when you copy and paste from another web page the colour and size can be imported -and if you try to continue entering text you can be "stuck in " the font you have "imported"

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Permalink Reply by Vedas on November 26, 2014 at 8:56pm

Hello,

the correct form is se souvenir de quelqu'un versus je me rappelle mes grands parents/ mes vacances (transitive) but it's a tricky rule (challenged by usage):

on se rappelle quelque chose/ elle se le rappelle

on se souvient de quelque chose/ elle s'en souvient

that is the rule but in everyday conversation you'll hear je me rappelle de (because the verbs are so close to describe the same things that the constructions tend to get mixed), some writers even supported the form se rappeler de, mind you to make things more complicated in some circumstances se rappeler de is an acceptable form...

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on November 27, 2014 at 2:59pm

Thanks for the replies.

English we use both 'remember' and 'recall'.

So is the French!

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Bishop on November 28, 2014 at 7:37pm

To remove formatting, cut and paste it into a text editor - e.g. Windows Notepad. Then cut and paste it where you want. The reason it works is notepad cannot be formatted so it simply removes it when you paste into it.

Hope this works for you.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on November 29, 2014 at 2:45pm

Thanks Stephen for the tip.

You know I am an open source man. I never use Windows. All my computers have Linux flavours.

As a matter of fact, I bought a lap top computer with Windows 7; this was some 4 years ago.

I never use it. I have not open that computer in 2014, though I pay money every year to keep its anti-virus program.

Linux has several notepads. They work better than notepads you find in Windows computers.

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Permalink Reply by karenM on December 17, 2014 at 11:43am

If you want to be in a purist purist approach : On se rappelle quelque chose, mais on se souvient de quelque chose.

So technically, je me rappelle de toi is wrong.

- C’est avec nostalgie que je me rappelle les vacances de ma jeunesse

- C’est avec nostalgie que je me souviens des vacances de ma jeunesse

- Quand on l’a revu, il ne se rappelait même plus nos noms

- Quand on l’a revu, il ne se souvenait même plus de nos noms

BUT, I'm French and I can tell you that nobody knows this rule and everybody says. We all say Je me rappelle de lui / Je me souviens de lui 

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on December 17, 2014 at 6:48pm

Thanks

Quand on l’a revu, il ne se rappelait même plus nos noms.

What is the meaning of 'Quand on l'a revu' ?

What is revu?

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Permalink Reply by karenM on December 18, 2014 at 10:22am

"Quand on l'a revu" means "When we saw him again"

"revu" is the past participle form of the verb "revoir" (to see again)

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on December 18, 2014 at 7:50pm

Thanks for the reply.

When we saw him again, he failed to recognize us.

When he saw him again, he could not recognize us.

Have I correctly translated the sentence in question?

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Permalink Reply by karenM on December 19, 2014 at 10:58am

Not totally. It would be: "When we saw him again, he even could not remember our names/how we are called"

1- il ne se rappelait même plus nos noms => même adds a negative notion about the person:  it's a bad thing that he could not remember our names (I translated by even, is it right ?)

2 - and the sentence says that he could not remember our names => so he may recognized/remermber us (but not our names)

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Permalink Reply by Robert on December 20, 2014 at 9:03am

Thanks, I find your comments so helpful.
I am not sure if the translation calls for 'would not' or 'could not' or 'did not.'
My best guess: 'he would not even remember our names.'

But 'how we are called' is not good. 'What we are called' is better, but still never a good way to refer to someone's name at all. It only makes sense in special situations , such as when you want to stress that there is something very important or peculiar about the name.

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