Mon arrière-grand-père avait un registre, mais je ne m'en souviens plus.

Questions & Answers about Mon arrière-grand-père avait un registre, mais je ne m'en souviens plus.

Why do we use en to say "it" here instead of le?
In French, the verb "to remember" is se souvenir de. Because it requires the preposition de, you must use the pronoun en to replace the inanimate object (de + un registre). If the verb didn't require de, you would use a standard direct object pronoun like le.
Would I still use en if I were remembering a person instead of a register?
Usually, no. For inanimate objects or ideas, you use en (e.g., je m'en souviens). If you are remembering a person, you typically keep the preposition de and add a stressed pronoun. For example, "I remember him" would be je me souviens de lui.
Why are the pronouns in the order m'en?
The verb is reflexive (se souvenir), so it needs the reflexive pronoun me (here shortened to m' before a vowel). When you have a reflexive pronoun (like me, te, se) and the pronoun en, the reflexive pronoun always comes first.
What is the difference between ne ... plus and ne ... pas in this context?
Ne ... plus means "no longer" or "not anymore". It shows a change in state: the speaker used to remember the register, but they don't anymore. Using ne ... pas (je ne m'en souviens pas) would simply mean "I don't remember it."
Why is the imperfect tense (avait) used for the first half of the sentence?
The imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing states, habits, or background information in the past. The great-grandfather "having" a register was a continuous state of possession over time, not a single, completed action, so we use avait rather than the passé composé (a eu).

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