Hello. My name is Emma; and in today's video, I'm going to explain the
difference between "remind" and "remember". I'm also going to talk about
the grammar of "remind" and the grammar of "remember", and the rules that go
along with these two words. So, let's start with "remind". I'm going to first
start by showing you two sentences. I have: "The nurse reminded me to take my
medication." My second sentence is: "Facebook reminded me to wish my friend
'Happy Birthday.'" So, can you guess: What does it mean to "remind someone to
do something"? Well, when we "remind someone", it means someone or something
makes you think of something. Okay? So, when you're using the word "remind", we
have "someone" or "something". In this case, the "nurse" is someone; "Facebook"
is something; we have the verb "remind"; we have a person — "me". So, it "reminds
me" to think about this. So, the nurse makes me think: "Take your medicine."
Facebook makes me think: "Wish my friend a Happy Birthday." Okay? So, you need an
object or a person to make use... to make you think of something. I know that
sounds confusing, but when I show you more examples, it's going to become very
clear and easy. So, one thing I wanted to say about the word "remind" is
"remind" is always followed by a person. The person doesn't have to be "me"; it
can be: "me", "you" "him", "her", "them", "us", "Jane", "my mom", "my dad"
— it can be any person. So, you'll notice here is "remind", it's followed
by "me". I could change this to: "remind you", "remind her", "remind them" —
okay? — as long as there's a person after the word, then you're doing it
correctly. Okay. So, now we're going to look at some other examples of "remind"
to really help you understand this word.
Okay. So, I'm going to give you four examples of "remind", and then we'll
talk about the grammar of each of these sentences. So, my first example is: "My
calendar reminds me of my appointments." So, in my agenda, I have a calendar; and
I write down my doctor appointments, my dentist, any meetings I have —
everything I have to do in a week I write in my agenda. So, when I see this
agenda or when I see my calendar, it makes me think of what I need to do. "It
reminds me of what I need to do." So, in this case, my calendar "reminds me" of
my appointments. It makes me think of my appointments. I am a very forgetful
person, so I need to be reminded of things a lot. I use this little notepad
to write down anything I need to be reminded of. So, for example: "This
notepad reminds me to wear sunscreen." I always forget to wear sunscreen; and
when I get a sunburn, I look like a tomato. So, I write down: "wear
sunscreen", and I tape this to my door; so that way, whenever I'm about to go
outside, I think: "Oh, I need sunscreen." So, this pad of paper
reminds me to wear sunscreen. It also reminds me — I have a lot written down
My next sentence is about my brother. "The dentist reminded my brother that he
needs to floss more." So, for a lot of people, when they go to the dentist, the
dentist often says: "You need to floss." The dentist reminds people to floss.
Okay? So, this is a great example. And, again, we always have a person after the
word "remind". And it's either a thing or a person that makes us think of
something. So in this case, the dentist is making my brother think he needs to
floss. Now, there's another way we use "remind" in English, and that's where
it's similar to, resemble, or look like, smell like; to have something similar to
something else. So, I'm going to give you an example of this. "I remind my
aunt of my grandma." I have, here, a photo of my grandma. You probably can't
see it, but her and I actually look like twins. When my grandma was younger, she
looked very much like me. So, when my aunt sees me, she thinks: "Wow, they
look a lot alike." So, I remind my aunt of my grandma. When my aunt sees me, she
thinks of my grandma. I'm going to give you another example of this, which is
true, and I think it's quite funny. Somebody has said to me: "You remind me
of Nicole Kidman." I don't think I look like Nicole Kidman, but I loved the
compliment. So, thank you for that. Another thing somebody said to me was:
"You remind me of Barbie." I also take that as a compliment. So, it means I'm
similar to Nicole Kidman and Barbie. I don't know if you agree, but that's what
I've heard before. So, now let's look at the grammar of "remind".
Okay. So, we have the thing, or the object, the verb "remind", the person —
in this case, "me" — the next word we can use... there's different words we
can use. One word we can use is "of". If we use "of", the next word needs to be a
noun. So, for example: "My calendar reminds me of my appointments.",
"Facebook reminds me of my friend's birthday." So, "of" is always followed
by a noun in this case. Another... Well, I shouldn't say: "always"; there's
always exceptions, but it's usually followed with a noun. Another thing you
might notice in the next sentence is we have the word, here, "to". We often use
"remind" and "to" together. So, we have: "This notepad reminds me" — again,
"remind" is always followed by a person — "to wear sunscreen". When we're
talking about a task or some kind of job we have to do, we often use "to" and
then a verb. "My mother reminds me to call her.", "My grandmother reminds me
to send her a postcard." These are examples of using "remind" with "to".
So, we can use it with "of", we can use it with "to", and we can also use it
with the word "that". "The dentist reminded my brother that he needs to
floss more." When we use "that", the next thing that follows is a subject.
So, that can be: "he", "she", "I", "you", "they", and a verb. So: "The
dentist reminded my brother that he needs to floss more.", "I reminded my
brother that he owes me money." Okay? So, another example of using "that". And
finally, when we talk about "resemble", we usually use "of". So, if you want to
say someone looks like someone else or reminds you in another way of someone
else — it can be their personality is similar, the way they talk is similar,
you know, the way they think is similar, any... any way they are similar — you
can use: "remind (the person) of", and then the second person. Now, let's look
at how we use "remember" in a sentence and how it is different than "remind".
All right. So, now let's talk about "remember". "Remember" means to think
about a memory from the past or something from the past. The difference
between "remember" and "remind" is: With "remind", you need a person or a thing
to make you think about something else; with "remember", you don't need anything
— I can just remember just by thinking. Okay? So, here are some examples. "Do
you remember what you wore yesterday?" So, what clothes did you wear yesterday?
Do you remember? So, if I think, I can remember. I remember wearing a flower
dress; a different flower dress. I remember, yesterday, I wore a choker or
a nice necklace. And I remember, yesterday, I wore sandals. "Can you
remember what you wore yesterday?" So, again, notice I didn't need an object,
and I didn't need a person; I could think of it myself. Let's look at
another example of "remember". "I remember when I went to Spain." So, I
went to Spain when I was fifteen or sixteen years old. It was my first trip
outside of Canada. So, I remember when I went to Spain; I have a memory about
Spain. I have many memories from Spain. So, I use "remember". "I remember my
first boyfriend; Tim was his name." So, I can think about memories of Tim from
my past. I don't need to see Tim to do this; I just can think of it. "I
remember visiting my grandma when I was a child." A couple of weeks ago, I saw
my kindergarten teacher. And I was very happy, because my kindergarten teacher
said: "I remember you." Well, hopefully that's a good thing, because your
kindergarten teacher either remembers you because you were a great student or
you were terrible. I don't know which one, but my... my kindergarten teacher
said: "I remember you." So, these are some examples of "remember".
Now, let's talk about the grammar of "remember". It's very different from the
grammar of "remind". With "remind", we always have a person after the word
"remind". With "remember", we don't; we use other things after "remember". So,
let's look at the first... the first sentence I wrote. "Do you remember what
you wore yesterday?" We often use words like: "what", "when", "why", "who" after
"remember". "Do you remember who your first crush was?", "Do you remember why
you chose to study English?" Okay? So, we often use: "what", "when", "why",
"how" with the word "remember". Here's another example of that: "I remember
when I went to Spain." And notice after these words, like, "what" and "when" —
we have a subject and a verb. Okay. Another thing we can do after "remember"
is we can just have a noun. A "noun" is a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.
So, here I have: "I remember my first boyfriend, Tim". "Tim's" a noun. Okay?
So, I could say: "I remember Tim." It's a very simple sentence; but again, it's
a noun. We don't need anything else. Or here's another example of that: "I
remember you". I'm a noun; I'm a person. "I remember the chair.", "I remember the
cup." So, you can use "remember" with a noun. Okay. Now, I have another example.
"I remember visiting my grandma." So, here, we have a verb after "remember".
And notice what the verb looks like; it has "ing" at the end. So, sometimes when
we use the... the verb "remember", the verb after has "ing". And we use "ing"
when we're talking about an action in the past. So: "I remember visiting my
grandma.", "I remember watching Star Wars.", "I remember going to my friend's
house yesterday." Okay? So, notice I use "ing" with each of those verbs? Okay.
So, now, I'm going to talk about one last grammar point with the word
"remember".
So, when we're talking about things in the past, we can also use the word
"that" after "remember". So, here's an example: "I remember that I had a nice
teacher. I remember she was very sweet.", "I remember that I loved school
as a kid. I loved English as a kid." So, notice that after the word "that", I
have a subject and a verb. So: "I remember that I had a nice teacher.", "I
remember that I loved English." I still love English, but I loved English as a
kid. So, anytime after "that" you need a subject and a verb. So, let's talk about
the last point about "remember". We can also use "remember to" and a verb. When
we use "remember to" and a verb, we're talking about a task or a job. In this
case, it means: "Don't forget to do a task or a job." So, for example:
"Remember to buy milk." And so, after "to" we have the verb "to buy".
"Remember to call me." I always forget to call people. So, my mom always tells
me: "Remember to call me." I tell this to my students a lot: "Remember to do
your homework." Many students forget, so I have to say: "Don't forget. Remember
And here's the last thing I'll say: Remember to check out www.engvid.com. On
this website, there's a quiz about everything I have just talked about in
this video. So, you can practice the difference between "remind" and
"remember", and all the grammar points I covered. There are a lot of other
resources on www.engvid.com, so I highly recommend you check it out. You can also
subscribe to my channel. There, you will find many other videos on different
topics related to English, like pronunciation, grammar, writing, and
many more. You can also check out my website at www.teacheremma.com. So,
thank you so much for watching; and until next time, take care.