هو يتذكر اسم الطبيب، لكنني لا أتذكره الآن.

He remembers the doctor's name, but I do not remember it now.

Breakdown of هو يتذكر اسم الطبيب، لكنني لا أتذكره الآن.

• هو: he
• الآن: now
• لكنني: but I
• لا: (negation)

Questions & Answers about هو يتذكر اسم الطبيب، لكنني لا أتذكره الآن.

Why does the sentence start with هو? Isn’t the يـ in يتذكر already enough to mean he?

Yes, the verb form يتذكر already tells you the subject is he. So هو is not strictly necessary.

Arabic often drops subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear. So you could also say:

يتذكر اسم الطبيب، لكنني لا أتذكره الآن.

Including هو adds clarity or emphasis, and here it also helps set up a contrast:

• هو يتذكر... = he remembers...
• لكنني... = but I do not remember...

So in this sentence, هو helps emphasize the contrast between he and I.

What tense is يتذكر and أتذكر? Do they mean present tense only?

Both يتذكر and أتذكر are in the imperfect form, which often corresponds to the present tense in English.

Here they mean:

• يتذكر = he remembers / he is remembering
• أتذكر = I remember / I am remembering

In context, the natural translation is simple present:

• هو يتذكر = He remembers
• لا أتذكره الآن = I do not remember it now

The prefixes are important:

• يـ = he
• أ =