To Remember, Recall, and Remind in Italian. It was once believed that we retained memory in our hearts. Hence in Italian, the act of remembering is ricordare, from the Latin recordare —the prefix re indicating return backwards and cordis meaning "heart.
A regular first-conjugation verbricordare is generally a transitive verb and takes a direct object and the auxiliary avere. However, ricordare can also be conjugated as a pronominal verb: ricordarsi something. In this case, of course, it is accompanied by the little pronominal particles mitisicivi and si, and in the compound tenses it is used with essere though it is not reflexive.
To illustrate this, the conjugation tables below contain a mix of sentences with ricordare and ricordarsi using avere and essere. Overall, ricordarsi is considered to be less formal, but it's a matter of speaking habit and regional or personal preference.
Both ricordare and ricordarsi can be followed by di: to ricordo häst of something rather than simply something or someone. Mi ricordo bene di Luca or ricordo Luca molto benethey mean essentially the same—I remember Luca well.
The differences are subtle, often changing with the tense of the verb and the context. Remember, though: Ricordare or ricordarsi must be followed by the proposition di if what you are remembering is an action, expressed by another verb: Ricordati di prendere il pane!
Remember to get the bread! In the presente indicativoricordare takes on a sense of permanence: I remember your father well; I remember when we went to school together. With the imperfetto of ricordare you remembered something for an imperfect time in the past; you may not remember anymore.
In the passato prossimoricordare is a recent act of remembering, now concluded. See the uses of ricordare and ricordarsi with avere and essere, respectively. In the passato remoto the an act of remembering concluded in the remote past, in a memory or a story from long ago.
In the trapassato prossimo you see ricordare and ricordarsi with the imperfetto of the auxiliary and the past participle. A storytelling voice, reminiscing, in the context of the past. The trapassato remoto is mostly a literary tense, used in constructions with the passato remoto.
Imagine some elderly nonni and nonne sitting around remembering. Il futuro semplice of ricordare is used mostly as a promise, a prognostication, or a warning. The futuro anteriore is regular, a compound tense with the future of the auxiliary. In the presente congiuntivo we are wishing to remember, hoping to remember, or doubting we'll remember.
The congiuntivo passato, used to express wish or hope for something to have been remembered in the past, is made with the present subjunctive of avere or essere and the participle. In the congiuntivo imperfettothe ricordo häst and wishing to remember is in the past.