Oublier

Oublier is a French verb meaning to forget. It denotes the act of failing to remember or recall information, people, places, or events. It can be used with a direct object, as in j’oublie mes clés, or in constructions that express a lapse or omission, such as oublier de faire quelque chose, meaning to forget to do something.

Etymology: Oublier comes from Old French oublier, formed from the noun oubli, meaning forgetfulness, which in turn derives from a Latin root related to oblivisci “to forget.” The noun oubli gives rise to related terms in French, such as oubli “forgetting” or the verb oublier itself.

Conjugation: Oublier is a regular -er verb. Present tense forms are j’oublie, tu oublies, il/elle oublie, nous oublions, vous oubliez, ils/elles oublient. The passé composé is formed with avoir: j’ai oublié. Other common tenses include l’imparfait: j’oubliais, le futur simple: j’oublierai, and the subjunctive present: que j’oublie. The imperative forms are oublie, oublions, et oubliez.

Usage notes: The verb primarily conveys a cognitive lapse or failure to recall. It can express forgetting a object or fact (j’ai oublié le rendez-vous), forgetting to perform an action (j’ai oublié de rappeler), or in emotional sense, forgetting a person (j’ai oublié son nom). Oublier can sometimes imply neglect or losing track of something, though this nuance may overlap with other verbs like omettre or négliger depending on context. In translation, oublier corresponds to “to forget” in English.