mémoire
/me.mwaʁ/feminine
The French word for the English phrase 'memory' is mémoire.
mémoire refers to the mental faculty or the ability to recall information.
Meaning: ability to recall (noun)
Which one should you use?
While mémoire refers to the mental faculty of memory, the word souvenir is used to refer to an individual memory or a specific recollection. Additionally, if you are in an academic context, the masculine form un mémoire refers to a thesis or a research dissertation, which is a distinct meaning from the feminine faculty of memory.
How does it change in a sentence?
The word mémoire is a feminine noun.
How do you pronounce it?
/me.mwaʁ/ (2 syllables)
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use the masculine form le mémoire when referring to the faculty of memory. However, when you mean the ability to recall, mémoire is always feminine.
Did you know?
- The phrase perdre la mémoire means to lose one's memory, but the word mémoire also appears in the term mémoire vive to describe a computer's RAM.
- While mémoire is the faculty of memory, the word souvenir is a cognate of the English 'souvenir'. In French, however, souvenir is used for any single memory of a past event, not just a physical keepsake.
- The Latin root of mémoire is memoria, which is also the distant ancestor of the English word 'memorial'.
Examples in context
- Il a bonne mémoire.He has a good memory.This sentence is useful for describing someone who has a good memory using mémoire.Tatoeba #131813 by Micsmithel, translation #293154 by CH
- Il perdit la mémoire.He lost his memory.This sentence is useful for describing the loss of the faculty of memory using mémoire.Tatoeba #1137957 by sacredceltic, translation #295136 by CK
- Quelle mémoire tu as !What a memory you have.This sentence is useful for expressing admiration for someone's memory using mémoire.Tatoeba #477445 by sacredceltic, translation #17688 by Zifre
- La mémoire humaine est fascinante.Human memory is fascinating.
- Sa rétention des détails est impressionnante.His retention of details is impressive.
- Mon amie a une grande capacité de mémorisation.My friend has a great memory capacity.
- J'ai une mémoire de poisson rouge.I have a goldfish memory.
- Je n'ai aucun souvenir de cette soirée.I have no memory of that evening.
- 165 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Nathan and Manon are talking about an old childhood friend.
- NathanTu te souviens de son nom ?Do you remember his name?
- ManonNon, ma mémoire me fait défaut.No, my memory is failing me.
- NathanC'est dommage, il a une grande mémoire.That's a shame, he has a great memory.
- ManonC'est vrai, il n'oublie jamais rien.It's true, he never forgets anything.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “memory” translations and entries mémoire, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries mémoire, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
