Look at these sentences:
Tu te souviens de ton professeur de maths? Do you remember your math teacher?
Tu te rappelles ton professeur de maths?Do you remember your math teacher?
Je me souviens de cet été merveilleux.I remember this wonderful summer.
Je me rappelle cet été merveilleux.I remember this wonderful summer.
Tu te souviens de moi ?Do you remember me?
Je me rappelle le premier cadeau que tu m'as fait.I remember the first gift you gave me.
To express remembering in French, there are two main phrases you can use:
- Se souvenir de <quelque chose> which is the slightly more sophisticated option.
Here you can never omit the de.
Note also that when de is followed by le or les, you will use the contracted forms du or des, and that de un and de une will become d'un and d'une:
Je me souviens du premier cadeau que tu m'as fait.I remember the first gift you gave me.
Tu te souviens des frères Jackson ?Do you remember the Jackson Brothers?
Je me souviens d'une nuit pluvieuse, où tu es venu me voir.I remember a rainy night, when you came to see me.
- Se rappeler (x) <quelque chose>
Colloquially, it's perfectly correct to use se rappeler de <> as well as se rappeler <> :
Tu te rappelles de ton professeur de maths?Do you remember your math teacher?
Je me rappelle de cet été merveilleux.I remember this wonderful summer.
Elle se rappelle de ce garçon.She remembers this boy.
ATTENTION:
In cases with stress pronouns (to remember me, you, him...), just like you'd use se souvenir de, you will use se rappeler DE <moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles> (literally "I remember of"):
Tu te rappelles de moi ?Do you remember me?
Je me rappelle de lui.I remember him.
Note: you can never say Tu te rappelles moi.
See also how to conjugate rappeler : Conjugate -eter and -eler verbs in Le Présent - main rule (ll / tt)
Want to make sure your French sounds confident?
We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your
gaps and mistakes. Start your Braimap today »
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard