Ik herinner me de datum van het feest.

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Breakdown of Ik herinner me de datum van het feest.

• herinneren: to remember
• het feest: the party
• me: myself
• de datum: the date

Questions & Answers about Ik herinner me de datum van het feest.

Why does Dutch use me in Ik herinner me de datum instead of just Ik herinner de datum?

Dutch often uses reflexive pronouns with certain verbs to indicate that the action reflects back on the subject. Herinneren is one of those verbs. In English, you simply say I remember something, but in Dutch, you typically say Ik herinner me iets (literally I remember myself something, though that’s not how we’d phrase it in English).

What’s the difference between Ik herinner me and Ik onthoud?

Ik herinner me translates to I remember, focusing on the act of recalling information. Ik onthoud translates more closely to I retain or I keep in mind, emphasizing storing information rather than the act of recalling it. In practice, ik herinner me is more common when talking about actively remembering something from the past.

Does the word order matter? Could I say Ik herinner de datum van het feest me?

In Dutch, reflexive pronouns usually appear before the direct object. So Ik herinner me de datum van het feest is the standard word order. While there are some flexible cases in Dutch word order, placing me at the end here isn’t natural.

Is there a longer form like Ik kan me de datum herinneren?

Yes, you can expand the sentence to use kan (can) plus the infinitive: Ik kan me de datum herinneren. This means essentially the same thing (I can remember the date), but the form Ik herinner me de datum is already fully correct and natural.

Can herinneren be used without any pronoun?

Not in this reflexive sense. The verb herinneren in Dutch almost always appears with a reflexive pronoun (me, je, zich, etc.) when it means to remember. If you omit the reflexive pronoun, the meaning changes to something like to remind (e.g., Ik herinner je eraan = I remind you of it).