I almost forget/forgot to tell you | WordReference Forums

I almost forget/forgot to tell you

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EdisonBhola

Senior Member
Korean
The context is like this. Suppose Peter and I were at a cafe right now. Just when we are about to say goodbye, I suddenly remember that I have to tell him something important.
Should I say:
1. I almost forget to tell you something important.
Or
2. I almost forgot to tell you something important.

Thanks!
 
    • You can say "I almost forgot to tell you" if you should have said it in the past or "I am almost forgetting to tell you" if you should be saying it now or a few minutes in the future, but you can't say "I almost forget to tell you".
     
    Conceptually, I find it very hard to understand why past tense is needed. Is it because, the moment I remember "it", "forget" is already in the past?
     
    EdisonBhola said:
    Conceptually, I find it very hard to understand why past tense is needed. Is it because, the moment I remember "it", "forget" is already in the past?
    Click to expand...
    Yes. Once you say "I almost forgot X" you imply that now you have remembered X.

    I suppose "I am almost forgetting" or "I almost forget" could be possible in contexts where you are narrating your experience in real-time. In a novel narrated in the preset tense, for instance, "I almost forget" might be possible: "You turn back to me, your hair catching the light. You smile. I almost forget to tell you that I can no longer stay." If you were relaying a set of information in a letter, I could see "I am almost forgetting" being possible.

    Neither of the present-tense formations seems appropriate for everyday speech.
     
    >> Conceptually, I find it very hard to understand why past tense is needed. Is it because, the moment I remember "it", "forget" is already in the past?

    That's (almost) exactly right. You're getting up to leave; you had intended to mention something during the 'sitting-down' period of your meeting, but it slipped your mind: you forgot.

    You forgot to mention it at the meeting.

    However, as you rise to leave, it suddenly pops into your head; you remember that you had intended to mention it.

    It's these precise circumstances that allow a person to say the following bit of idiomatic English: 'I almost forgot to mention XYZ'.

    ('almost', because, clearly, you haven't actually forgotten.)

    ~~~~~

    I should avoid saying never; however, "I am almost forgetting to tell you" is the sort of thing I'd expect to hear slowly issuing from someone under the influence of LSD, or hypnosis, or in a lab, with many wires attached to their head. (Cross-posted)
     
    Beryl from Northallerton said:
    I should avoid saying never; however, "I am almost forgetting to tell you" is the sort of thing I'd expect to hear slowly issuing from someone under the influence of LSD, or hypnosis, or in a lab, with many wires attached to their head. (Cross-posted)
    Click to expand...

    Is this really the tone to take in this forum? I would be ashamed to post something like this.
     
    exgerman said:
    Is this really the tone to take in this forum/ i would be ashamed to do so.
    Click to expand...
    I'd also be ashamed to feed someone LSD and then hook them up to lots of wires! Let them enjoy their trip, I say.

    I think Beryl's point - expressed humorously for effect - was simply that using the present progressive to describe an action like "ceasing to forget" (which we normally view as instantaneous, at the speed of thought) demands special circumstances, in which our forgetting/remembering takes place slowly enough for us to comment on it in real time.
     
    I'm with Beryl too. I could also say "Oh, I'm forgetting something important I have to tell you" if I really want to stay "in the present". I can't quite get my head round "almost forget", unless it's something I habitually do: "Every morning I almost forget to water the plants on the balcony before I go to work."
     
    The combination of 'almost' with the simple present of forget works in some situations, for example, 'I haven't seen her for so long I almost forget what she looks like'. This usually expresses a generalisation that is not strictly limited to right now, the immediate present.

    Your example, Edison, is limited to the immediate present - 'Suppose Peter and I were at a cafe right now and I suddenly remember..'. It is not a generalisation so the simple present does not work in this instance.
     
    Hullo.

    Besides its "normal" use in sentences like "I forgot to water the plants", English has — unlike other Continental European languages — another use of the verb forget which is felt to be "strange" by our EFL students.One example:

    + Do you know her name?
    – Sorry, I forget.

    In most of "our" languages, that would be:

    – Sorry, I don't remember.

    This peculiarity may be the cause of some misunderstanding...

    GS
     
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