What’s the difference between recordar and acordarse?
- recordar
- acordarse
- 3 rules to avoid common mistakes
- Table of comparison
- How to conjugate recordar and acordarse
- Online exercises to improve your Spanish
- Lingolia Plus Spanish
Introduction
The verbs recordar and acordarse are interchangeable in their meaning; they are both translated into English as remember. However, they are grammatically different, meaning that using them correctly in a sentence can be tricky for learners. Learn how to use recordar and acordarse correctly in a sentence with Lingolia’s quick and easy examples, then put your knowledge to the test in the exercise.

—¿A dónde vamos de vacaciones este año? ¿A las Canarias?
—¡Ya hemos estado allí! ¿No te acuerdas de nuestro viaje?
—Pues no... ¡no lo recuerdo!
—¿No recuerdas el Teide?
—¡Ah, sí! Me acuerdo de un volcán muy, muy grande.
recordar
The verb recordar has the following characteristics:
- it is a transitive verb; it cannot exist alone. Recordar is always used together with a direct object (complemento directo);
- Examples:
- —¿No recuerdas el Teide?–You don’t remember Teide?
- —Pues no... ¡no lo recuerdo!–Well no ... I don’t remember it!
- unlike acordarse, recordar can also mean remind, and can be combined with an indirect object (complemento indirecto);
- Example:
- Recuérdame dónde hemos estado de vacaciones.Remind me where we went on holiday.
- it does not take a preposition;
- Example:
- ¿No recuerdas el Teide?Don’t you remember Teide?
If recordar does appear with a preposition, it belongs to the object not to the verb.
- Example:
- ¿Recuerdas en qué islas hemos estado? (estar en)Do you remember which islands we’ve been to?
acordarse
The verb acordarse has the following characteristics:
- it is an intransitive verb; it is never followed immediately by a direct object (complemento directo);
- Example:
- ¿Te acuerdas de nuestro viaje?Do you remember our trip?
-
not:
¿te lo acuerdas?
- it cannot be combined with an indirect object;
- Example:
Acuérdameen qué islas hemos estado.
- if we want to combine acordarse with an object, we must use the preposition de: acordarse de algo o de alguien;
- Example:
- Me acuerdo de un volcán muy, muy grande.I remember a very, very big volcano.
- acordarse is a reflexive verb, which means it always appears with the corresponding reflexive pronoun;
- Example:
- ¿Te acuerdas de nuestro viaje?Do you remember our trip?
Without a reflexive pronoun, acordar means agree.
- Example:
- Los compradores acordaron un precio con el negociador.The buyers agreed a price with the negotiator.
3 rules to avoid common mistakes
Learn these three handy rules to avoid the most common grammatical mistakes with recordar and acordarse.
- Use a reflexive pronoun with acordarse but not with recordar:
- Example:
- Me acuerdo. / Lo recuerdo.I remember. / I remember (it).
- not:
Me recuerdo.
- Use the preposition de after acordarse but do not use a preposition with recordar:
- Example:
- Me acuerdo de un volcán muy grande. / Recuerdo un volcán muy grande.I remember a very big volcano.
- not:
Recuerdo de un volcán muy grande.
- Always use a direct object with recordar (recordar algo):
- Example:
- ¡No lo recuerdo!I don’t remember it.
- not:
¡No recuerdo!
Table of comparison
The table below gives an overview of the different characteristics of the verbs recordar and acordarse.
Direct Object? | Indirect Object? | Preposition? | Reflexive Verb? | |
---|---|---|---|---|
recordar | yes | yes | no | no |
acordarse | no | no | yes: de | yes |
How to conjugate recordar and acordarse
Below are the present, past and future conjugations of the verbs recordar and acordarse. Use the conjugator to see the conjugations of these verbs in all tenses in both the indicative and subjunctive moods. Note that both verbs are irregular.
RECORDAR | present | imperfect | preterite | future |
---|---|---|---|---|
yo | recuerdo | recordaba | recordé | recordaré |
tú | recuerdas | recordabas | recordaste | recordarás |
él, ella, usted | recuerda | recordaba | recordó | recordará |
nosotros/-as | recordamos | recordábamos | recordamos | recordaremos |
vosotros/-as | recordáis | recordabais | recordasteis | recordaréis |
ellos/-as, ustedes | recuerdan | recordaban | recordaron | recordarán |
ACORDARSE | present | imperfect | preterite | future |
---|---|---|---|---|
yo | me acuerdo | me acordaba | me acordé | me acordaré |
tú | te acuerdas | te acordabas | te acordaste | te acordarás |
él, ella, usted | se acuerda | se acordaba | se acordó | se acordará |
nosotros/-as | nos acordamos | nos acordábamos | nos acordamos | nos acordaremos |
vosotros/-as | os acordáis | os acordabais | os acordasteis | os acordaréis |
ellos/-as, ustedes | se acuerdan | se acordaban | se acordaron | se acordarán |