Breakdown of watasi ha mada sensei no namae wo oboete imasen.
Questions & Answers about watasi ha mada sensei no namae wo oboete imasen.
は marks the topic, not exactly the grammatical subject.
- 私 は = "As for me / speaking about me…"
- The real grammatical subject in terms of "who doesn't remember" is still 私, but Japanese prefers to mark it as the topic of the sentence with は.
You could drop 私 completely if it’s obvious from context:
- （私 は）まだ先生の名前を覚えていません。
→ "I still don’t remember the teacher’s name." (subject I is understood)
Because 覚える is usually a transitive verb that takes を for its direct object.
- ～を覚える = "to memorize / to remember ~"
- 先生の名前を覚える = "to remember the teacher’s name."
Using が here would sound off or change the structure; 名前が覚えられない (potential form) could appear in other patterns, but in the basic pattern it’s X を 覚える.
まだ means "still / not yet" and implies an expectation that the situation will change.
先生の名前を覚えていません。
→ I don’t remember the teacher’s name. (simple fact)まだ先生の名前を覚えていません。
→ I still don’t remember the teacher’s name (but I expect / hope I will at some point).
So まだ conveys that the current "not remembering" is temporary or incomplete.
覚えていません is progressive/resultative: "I am not in the state of having remembered it."
覚える alone (especially 覚えません) can sound like a volitional/future or habitual statement:
- 先生の名前を覚えません。 → "I won’t remember / refuse to memorize the teacher’s name." (a bit strange)
覚えている describes a state:
- 先生の名前を覚えています。 → "I remember the teacher’s name." (I have it in my memory now.)
- 覚えていません。 → "I don’t (currently) remember it."
So 覚えていません is the natural way to say "I don’t remember" as a present state.
It’s built from:
- 覚える – dictionary form "to memorize / to remember"
- 覚え-て – て-form
- 覚えている – "to be in the state of having remembered" → "to remember (right now)"
- 覚えていない – plain negative ("do not remember")
- 覚えていません – polite negative (ます style)
So 覚えていません = "do not remember (polite)."
Yes, but it’s casual.
- 覚えていません。 – polite, used in most formal or neutral situations.
- 覚えていない。 – plain, neutral but not polite.
- 覚えてない。 – contracted, casual spoken form.
So with friends you might say:
- まだ先生の名前覚えてない。
In a more polite context (to the teacher, in class, etc.), use:
- まだ先生の名前を覚えていません。
You can, but it changes nuance slightly.
- 先生の名前 usually implies "the (relevant) teacher’s name" from context; often it’s your teacher anyway.
- 私の先生の名前 explicitly says "my teacher’s name."
In many real situations, saying just 先生 already implies "my/our teacher," so 私の is often unnecessary unless you need to contrast with someone else’s teacher.
Is it okay to move まだ or other parts around? For example,
私は先生の名前をまだ覚えていません。
Yes. Japanese word order is relatively flexible, though nuance and focus can shift slightly.
Common variants and their feel:
私はまだ先生の名前を覚えていません。
(neutral; "I still don’t remember the teacher’s name.")私は先生の名前をまだ覚えていません。
(focus on まだ覚えていません applying to the object: "That name—I still haven’t got it down.")まだ私は先生の名前を覚えていません。
(emphasizes まだ私は; can sound contrastive: "I, at least, still don’t remember the teacher’s name.")
All are grammatically fine; the first is probably the most common neutral version.
Yes, the subject is often omitted if clear from context.
In natural conversation, you’d more likely hear:
- まだ先生の名前を覚えていません。
Because who "I" is is understood from context (who is talking). 私 is often only included:
- in writing,
- at the beginning of a conversation, or
- to contrast with others (e.g., "As for me, I still don’t remember…").
No. 先生 literally means something like "one who came before" and is used as a title for:
- school teachers
- professors
- doctors
- some professionals like lawyers, politicians, artists in certain contexts
In this sentence, because of 名前 and typical beginner contexts, it’s natural to interpret 先生 as "teacher." But in other situations, 先生 could refer to a doctor, etc.
お名前 is the polite/honorific version of 名前.
- 名前 – neutral "name"
- お名前 – polite, used when talking about someone else’s name respectfully
In your sentence, you could say:
- 私はまだ先生のお名前を覚えていません。
That sounds more polite/respectful toward the teacher.
Using just 先生の名前 is not rude, but 先生のお名前 is nicer in a formal context.
Not exactly. 覚える often includes the idea of "learn/memorize and have it stored in memory." Common uses:
- 単語を覚える – "to memorize vocabulary"
- 先生の名前を覚える – "to learn/remember the teacher’s name"
For remembering something from the past (recalling), Japanese often uses:
- 思い出す – "to recall, to remember (something that had slipped your mind)"
Examples:
先生の名前を覚えています。
→ I remember / I know the teacher’s name (I learned it and have it in memory).先生の名前を思い出しました。
→ "I (finally) remembered / it came back to me."
In your sentence, 覚えていません means you don’t have the name in memory (or you haven’t successfully learned it yet).
You can, but the meaning shifts.
覚えていません – "I (currently) don’t remember / haven’t memorized it (yet)."
→ neutral statement about current state.覚えられません – potential form, "I can’t memorize / I’m unable to remember it."
→ implies difficulty or inability, not just that the process isn’t finished yet.
So:
まだ先生の名前を覚えていません。
→ I still haven’t remembered / learned it (but presumably I can, eventually).先生の名前がどうしても覚えられません。
→ "No matter what, I just can’t remember the teacher’s name." (stronger sense of inability).