Breakdown of No olvides fichar al salir.
no
no / not
salir
to go out, to leave / to appear, to come out (on the body)
olvidar
to forget
al
on, when (+ infinitive, e.g. on arriving)
fichar
to clock in / to clock out (at work)
Questions & Answers about No olvides fichar al salir.
Why is it No olvides and not No te olvides de?
Both are perfectly correct! You can say No olvides fichar using the simple verb olvidar, or No te olvides de fichar using the pronominal verb olvidarse de. The simple form olvidar is just slightly more direct, but they are used interchangeably in everyday Spanish.
Why does the command No olvides end in -es instead of -as?
Negative commands in Spanish always use the present subjunctive tense. For an -ar verb like olvidar, the tú ending in the subjunctive is -es, giving us no olvides. If it were a positive command to tell someone to forget something, you would use the standard imperative olvida.
Does the verb fichar mean both to clock in and to clock out?
The English translation says 'when you leave'. Why use al salir instead of cuando salgas?
While cuando salgas is completely correct, the structure al plus an infinitive is a very natural and concise way to express 'upon doing something' or 'at the time of doing something'. It is heavily used by native speakers because it avoids needing to conjugate another verb into the subjunctive.
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