Question 1

Why do we need de after olvido in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The verb used here is olvidarse, which is a prepositional verb. This means it requires a specific preposition to connect to its object. Whenever you use the reflexive form olvidarse, it must always be followed by the preposition de before the thing that is forgotten.

Question 2

Could I drop the me and the de and just say Nunca olvido los pequeños detalles?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! Spanish gives you two ways to say to forget: the non-reflexive olvidar algo and the reflexive olvidarse de algo. Both are perfectly correct and mean exactly the same thing, though olvidarse de is very common in everyday, conversational Spanish.

Question 3

Why is the adjective pequeños placed before the noun detalles instead of after?

Accepted Answer

While descriptive adjectives normally go after the noun, placing one before the noun emphasizes that quality or gives it a more subjective, emotional tone. Saying los pequeños detalles instead of los detalles pequeños focuses on the fact that their smallness is exactly what makes them endearing or significant to the speaker.

Question 4

Since nunca is a negative word, shouldn't there be a no in the sentence too?

Accepted Answer

You only need a double negative if the negative word comes after the verb. Because nunca (never) is placed before the verb here, you don't use no. If you moved it to the end of the sentence, it would become No me olvido nunca de los pequeños detalles.

Nunca me olvido de los pequeños detalles.

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