word choice - 「覚える」と「思い出す」の違い - what's the difference of oboeru and omoidasu?

I hear both fairly often but i still can't tell the difference and when to use what.

I found this answer in yahoo answers but it seems like there is a difference in opinion (?) - not sure, didn't understand some of the answers.

I usually hear omoidashita (思い出した) when someone suddenly recalls something. And I am sure I heard oboetenaino? (覚えてないの) a few times and to me it seems like the person is saying: "you don't remember do you?".

So it seems to me that they both mean the same thing. Is this correct?

For example:

Person1: 覚えてないの?
Person2: 思い出せない

Is this valid?

So I guess my questions are:

• Do they mean the same thing?


• Are they interchangeable?

Answer

覚える remember or "keep remembering"; 思い出す recall. These two words are supposed to illustrate the difference in meaning, not politeness.

Interesting tidbit: 覚える comes from 思ふ via 思はゆ, with ゆ being an alternative to (ら)る, the　自発・受身・可能の助動詞. So 覚える would literally be "able to think" because you have remembered it. On the other hand, 思い出す would be "to come out with a thought."

Rather than one example where they are similar, let's consider two sentences that shows how they're different:

誕生日、覚えていてくれたんですか!? 嬉しい！
She is happy because he did not forget her birthday. ("kept remembering")

突如、彼は思い出した。今日は葵の誕生日だったということを。
He had forgotten it and remembered (recalled) it just now.

Now try to exchange the two expressions:

その瞬間、彼は覚えた。
Makes no sense.

What you could say is

その瞬間、体当たりを覚えた。
It learned tackle in that instant.

Here it means 身に付ける, 体得する. What comes before を覚えた is some skill or feeling (酒の味を覚える[=知る]). The point is that you learn it and then "keep remembering" it.

記憶喪失とかなんとか言われてあたしは……あたしは…　すごく心配……本当に、誕生日、思い出してくれたんですか？

Alright, this sounds a bit construed, but I hope it gets the point across. It came to back to his mind at that moment.

More examples:

あのときのことは今もよく覚えている

この本を彼に返すことを覚えておいてね

犬が芸を覚える

新しい仕事に生き甲斐を覚える

楽しかった昔のことを忽然と思い出す

約束を急に思い出す

祖父が死んだ日のことをぼんやりと思い出す