I have got really confused by the following two sentences.
I don't remember the name
I can't remember the name
As I understand, the second one means:
You are not able to recall the name from your memory.
But what does the first one means?
grammarphrase-meaningsentence-meaning
I have got really confused by the following two sentences.
I don't remember the name
I can't remember the name
As I understand, the second one means:
You are not able to recall the name from your memory.
But what does the first one means?
Best Answer
They mean the same, but only because the word "remember" means "be able to recall from memory"
As the word remember includes the sense "be able to..." so "I don't remember" and "I can't remember" mean the same. You might use "I can't remember" to mean "I've tried to remember and failed" but "I don't remember" to mean "I don't know, but I haven't thought hard about it yet". But really this is only nuance and not strictly followed.