Ne sjećam se toga.

Because the verb is sjećati se, not just sjećati. In Croatian, this verb normally appears with the clitic se.

So:

• sjećam se = I remember
• ne sjećam se = I don’t remember

Even though English does not use myself here, Croatian treats se as a fixed part of this verb.

The dictionary form is sjećati se.

In this sentence, sjećam se is the 1st person singular present tense, so it means I remember or, in the negative, I don’t remember.

A very common pair is:

• sjećati se = imperfective
• sjetiti se = perfective

Very roughly:

• sjećam se = I remember / I do remember
• sjetio sam se / sjetila sam se = I remembered / it came back to me

Because sjećati se requires the genitive case.

So although the basic pronoun is to (that / it), after sjećati se it changes to toga.

Compare:

• to = nominative/accusative form
• toga = genitive form

This is one of the key things to learn with Croatian verbs: many verbs require a specific case, and sjećati se is one of the verbs that takes genitive.

Yes, normally it does.

Examples:

• Sjećam se toga. = I remember that.
• Sjećam se njega. = I remember him.
• Sjećam se nje. = I remember her.
• Sjećam se tog dana. = I remember that day.

So when you use sjećati se, expect the thing remembered to be in the genitive.

Ne is the normal negation particle used with verbs in Croatian. It goes before the finite verb:

• Sjećam se toga. = I remember that.
• Ne sjećam se toga. = I don’t remember that.

This is the standard way to negate most verbs.

Because se is a clitic: a very short, unstressed word that cannot stand freely in just any position.

In standard Croatian, se does not go directly after ne here. The natural order is:

• Ne sjećam se toga.

Not:

• Ne se sjećam toga.

You may also hear or see other word orders for emphasis, such as:

• Toga se ne sjećam.

That still means the same thing, but it emphasizes that.

The basic meaning is the same, but the emphasis changes.

• Ne sjećam se toga. = neutral, standard order
• Toga se ne sjećam. = emphasizes that

So Toga se ne sjećam can feel a bit like:

• That, I don’t remember
• I don’t remember that part

Croatian word order is more flexible than English, and speakers often move words around for emphasis.

Yes, if the context is already clear.

You can say:

• Ne sjećam se. = I don’t remember.

This is very common in conversation when everyone already knows what you are talking about.

If you want to be more specific, you keep the object:

• Ne sjećam se toga.
• Ne sjećam se tog razgovora. = I don’t remember that conversation.

Not exactly.

Both can relate to memory, but they are not always used the same way.

• sjećati se = to remember, to recall
• pamtiti = to remember, retain, keep in memory

In many everyday situations where English says I don’t remember, Croatian naturally uses ne sjećam se.

So:

• Ne sjećam se toga. is the most natural choice for I don’t remember that.

Ne pamtim to is possible in some contexts, but it often feels less natural for simple recall and can suggest I did not retain that in memory.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• sje ≈ sye
• ć is a soft sound, somewhat like a very soft ty
• sjećam ≈ SYEH-tyam (very approximate)
• se = seh

So sjećam se is roughly:

• SYEH-tyam seh

This is only an approximation, but it can help at first. The sound ć does not have a perfect English equivalent.

It is neutral and completely normal in both speech and writing.

You can use it in everyday conversation, for example:

• Ne sjećam se toga.
• Oprosti, ne sjećam se toga baš dobro. = Sorry, I don’t remember that very well.

So it is a very useful standard phrase to learn.