기억하다

기억하다 is the fundamental Korean verb for 'to remember.' It represents the act of holding onto information within your mind. Think of it as a mental filing cabinet where you store your life's experiences.

You will use this word constantly in daily life, whether you are talking about remembering a friend's birthday or recalling a difficult lesson from school. It is a versatile verb that functions as the backbone of communication regarding past events.

The word 기억하다 is a Sino-Korean compound. It consists of the Hanja characters 記 (gi), meaning 'to record' or 'to mark,' and 憶 (eok), meaning 'to recall' or 'to think.'

Historically, this reflects the philosophical view that memory is a combination of recording an event and then mentally retrieving that record. Because it is rooted in Hanja, it shares a structural logic with many other academic or formal Korean terms, making it a great anchor for vocabulary building.

In casual conversation, you might simply say '기억나?' (Do you remember?). In more formal settings, you would use the full '기억하십니까?' to show respect.

Common collocations include 기억에 남다 (to remain in one's memory) or 기억을 되살리다 (to revive a memory). It is used across all registers, from talking to toddlers to presenting in a boardroom.

1. 기억이 가물가물하다: Meaning the memory is hazy or fading. Example: '그때 일이 기억이 가물가물해요.'

2. 기억을 더듬다: To search one's memory. Example: '기억을 더듬어 보니 그날 비가 왔어요.'

3. 기억에 남다: To be memorable. Example: '이번 여행은 정말 기억에 남아요.'

4. 기억력이 좋다: To have a good memory. Example: '그는 정말 기억력이 좋아요.'

5. 기억을 되살리다: To jog one's memory. Example: '사진을 보고 기억을 되살렸어요.'

As a regular verb, 기억하다 conjugates easily. The stem is '기억하-'. In the polite present tense, it becomes '기억해요'.

Pronunciation is straightforward: [gi-eok-ha-da]. Ensure you hit the double consonant 'ㄱ' clearly at the end of the first syllable. It rhymes loosely with words like '도착하다' in terms of its rhythmic structure.