Questions & Answers about אתה זוכר אותו מהאוניברסיטה, או שאתה לא מכיר אותו?
They are related, but not the same.
- זוכר means remember
- מכיר means know / be acquainted with / be familiar with
So the sentence is contrasting two possibilities:
- Do you remember him from university?
- Or do you not know him?
That implies a difference between:
- having met him before but not clearly remembering him, and
- not really knowing who he is at all
This is a very common distinction in Hebrew.
Because Hebrew uses different verbs for different kinds of knowing.
- להכיר → to know a person, place, or thing by familiarity
- לדעת → to know a fact, piece of information, or how to do something
So:
- אני מכיר אותו = I know him
- אני יודע מי הוא = I know who he is
- אני יודע לשחות = I know how to swim
In this sentence, since it is about whether you are acquainted with a person, מכיר is the correct verb.