forgets

Forgets is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb forget. It denotes the act of failing to remember something or of losing a memory of a fact, event, or instruction. In everyday use, it can apply to both episodic memories and general knowledge, and it can also appear in phrases describing temporary lapses in attention or awareness.

In English, forget is an irregular verb. Its past tense is forgot, and its past participle is forgotten. Forgets is used with subjects such as he, she, or it: “She forgets her umbrella often.” The related forms include forgetting (present participle) and forgetful as an adjective describing a tendency to forget.

The study of forgetting spans linguistics and cognitive science. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain why memories are not retrieved when needed. Decay theory suggests memory traces weaken over time. Interference theory argues that other information, especially similar material, can disrupt recall. Retrieval failure theory posits that memories are stored but not accessible without appropriate cues. Motivated forgetting involves unconscious processes that bias or suppress recall. Modern perspectives emphasize memory as reconstructive, with retrieval influenced by context, expectations, and prior knowledge; reconsolidation can modify memories upon recall.

Forgets is also encountered in metaphorical or evaluative usage, describing oversight or failure to consider information, changes, or consequences. It is a common term across everyday language, education, journalism, and psychology, where it often serves as a neutral description of a lapse in memory rather than a diagnosis of a memory disorder.