Dictionary / I remember
How to Say "I remember" in French
Je me souviens de
/ʒə mə su.vjɛ̃ də/
Literally: I remember myself of
Je
I
me
myself
souviens
remember
de
of
Good to know
Both je me souviens de and je me rappelle are neutral. Je me souviens is slightly more common in speech and is also Quebec's provincial motto, which is why the phrase turns up out of context so often.
Correct
Je me souviens de
What people say wrong
Je souviens
ungrammatical, souvenir is reflexive and needs me
The mistake to avoid. There are two verbs for remember and they take opposite structures. Se souvenir needs de before its object; se rappeler takes the object directly, with no de. So it is je me souviens de ce jour but je me rappelle ce jour. English speakers make two errors here: dropping the reflexive entirely, giving the ungrammatical je souviens, or importing de into the second verb and saying je me rappelle de. That second one is extremely common among native speakers too, and is still marked wrong in exams. Worth knowing which side of the line you are standing on.
In context
Je me souviens de notre premier voyage.
I remember our first trip.
Tu te souviens de lui ?
Do you remember him?
Je ne me rappelle plus son nom.
I can't remember his name any more.