Breakdown of Se me olvidó que eres igual de rápido que yo.
yo
I
ser
to be
de
from / of
rápido
fast
que
that / than
me
to me / me (direct object)
olvidar
to forget
se
(marker of an accidental/unintentional event)
igual
equal
Questions & Answers about Se me olvidó que eres igual de rápido que yo.
Why do we use igual de rápido que instead of tan rápido como?
Why use Se me olvidó instead of just Olvidé?
Spanish often uses this "accidental se" structure for things like forgetting, dropping, or breaking something. It makes it sound like the event just happened to you, removing direct blame. While Olvidé is grammatically correct, Se me olvidó is much more common in everyday spoken Spanish.
Since "I" forgot, why is the verb olvidó (the "it" form) rather than olvidé (the "I" form)?
In the se me olvidó structure, the thing that slipped your mind is actually the grammatical subject, so the verb conjugates to match it. Here, the "thing" forgotten is the entire idea that you are fast. Since a concept or idea counts as a singular "it", the verb takes the third-person singular form olvidó.
Why does the sentence end with yo instead of mí?
In English, we often use object pronouns at the end of comparisons ("as fast as me"). In Spanish, you use the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él, etc.) after que in this type of comparison. It helps to think of it as a shortened version of "as fast as I am".
Learn Se me olvidó que eres igual de rápido que yo and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free