Question:

Dear Dave, I was speaking with my husband from Central America and said, “Se me olvido” He corrected me and said I should be saying, “Se me olvidan”.  ((I was trying to say I forget the correct way to speak when speaking even if I can understand when reading Spanish). Does the verb olvidar get conjugated into the 1st person or 3rd person in this phrase?  I know if I say, “no me gusta” it is 3rd person because it actually translates as “It is not pleasing to me” so gusta is refering to the 3rd person pronoun “it” but I don’t understand why the word olvidar would be in the 3rd person if I am says “I forget it” or “I forget them”.

Answer:

Buena pregunta.

The phrase, “Me olvidé” means “I forgot”.

The phrase, “Se me olvidó” means “I forgot it” or “It escaped me.” When you put the “se me” next to each other, it can have the connotation of “suddenly” or “unexpectedly” (I forgot it – suddenly.)

Now, if you said, “Se me olvidan” it would mean “I forget about them”. The phrase, “Se me olvidaron” means “I forgot about them” (past tense).

Hopefully that all makes sense and answers your question.

Comment from Jaime

“se me” could be reflexive OR impersonal form OR to my self, like in that case.
“se me olvidó” means (literally) “I forgot it myself”
You need to conjugate it as 3rd person because is “it”, is “something”. Example: “se me olvidó (ir a trabajar)”. “ir a trabajar” is “it, something” is the direct object.
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