Я не могу вспомнить его имя.

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Breakdown of Я не могу вспомнить его имя.

• не: not
• вспомнить: to remember
• мочь: to be able

Questions & Answers about Я не могу вспомнить его имя.

Why is it не могу вспомнить and not just one verb?

Russian often uses a modal-style construction here:

• могу = I can / am able to
• вспомнить = to recall / to remember

So Я не могу вспомнить его имя literally means I cannot recall his name.

This is very similar to English I can't remember his name, except Russian expresses it as I can't + recall.

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What is the difference between помнить and вспомнить?

This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence.

• помнить = to remember, in the sense of having something in your memory
• вспомнить = to remember / recall, in the sense of bringing it back to mind

So:

• Я помню его имя = I remember his name
  (I know it; it is in my memory.)
• Я не могу вспомнить его имя = I can't remember his name
  (I can't bring it to mind right now.)

In this sentence, вспомнить is the natural choice because the speaker is trying to recall something.

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Why is вспомнить in the infinitive?