How to say to remind someone of something with the verb recordar

Spanish verb recordar: to remind

To say that something or someone reminds you of something or someone, Spanish uses the verb "recordar" but not quite in the same way "to remind of" is used in English. 

Have a look at these examples:

Ese hombre me recuerda mucho a mi padre. Tiene los mismos ojos.That man reminds me of my dad. He has the same eyes.

La escena de amor en la película me recuerda a nuestra primera cita.The love scene in the movie reminds me of our first date.

As in English, the subject of the sentence is whatever/whoever "reminds" (este hombre, la escena), so the verb recordar must agree with that subject. The indirect object pronoun (me) indicates who the action of "remembering" affects, the same way as in the English sentence (it reminds me..., it reminds them..., it reminds her...)

The main difference between the English and Spanish structures is the preposition used: "of" in English, "a" in Spanish. 

It would be incorrect to use the preposition "de" in Spanish:

Los niños, jugando en el parque, nos recordaban de nuestra infancia.
The boys, playing in the park, reminded us of our childhood.

Los niños, jugando en el parque, nos recordaban a nuestra infancia.

The boys, playing in the park, reminded us of our childhood.

The cases mentioned above using the preposition "a" are all to do with "finding some kind of similarity between two things or two people". This is when we use the preposition a

However, there are cases when it still means "to remind of ..." but here the idea is that "something is brought to mind". See these two contrasting examples:

Esas imágenes me recuerdan la necesidad de que todos contribuyamos a erradicar la pobreza.Those images remind me/bring to my mind the need for all of us to contribute towards eradicating poverty.

Esas imágenes me recuerdan a aquellas imágenes que vimos en ese otro programa sobre pobreza.Those images remind me of/ are similar to those images we saw in that other program about poverty.

If what you really mean is that something "brought an idea to your mind" as opposed to just two things being simiar, the "a" is dropped, as you can see in the first example above.

 

When we mean "something reminds me that ..." we omit the preposition "a" and use "que":

Esas imágenes me recuerdan que debemos erradicar la pobreza.Those images remind me that we must eradicate poverty.

¡Uy! Eso me recuerda que tengo que enviarle una tarjeta de cumpleaños a Luis.Oh! That reminds me that I have to send Luis a birthday card.

When we mean "something reminds me of what...", using "lo que" for "what", it can take the preposition "a" or not, depending of what we want to convey, for example:

Esto me recuerda lo que pasó el mes pasado en Madrid.This reminds me of/brings to my mind what happened last month in Madrid.

Esto me recuerda a lo que pasó el mes pasado en Madrid.This reminds me of/ is similar to what happened last month in Madrid.

We can summarise it by saying:

Use "recordar  a" for "to remind of..." (= similar things/people)

Use "recordar" for "to remind of..." ( = idea brought to your mind)

Use "recordar que" for "to remind that..."

Use "recordar (a) lo que" for "to remind of what..."

 

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Examples and resources

Esas imágenes me recuerdan a aquellas imágenes que vimos en ese otro programa sobre pobreza.Those images remind me of/ are similar to those images we saw in that other program about poverty.
¡Uy! Eso me recuerda que tengo que enviarle una tarjeta de cumpleaños a Luis.Oh! That reminds me that I have to send Luis a birthday card.
Esto me recuerda lo que pasó el mes pasado en Madrid.This reminds me of/brings to my mind what happened last month in Madrid.
Esas imágenes me recuerdan que debemos erradicar la pobreza.Those images remind me that we must eradicate poverty.
Esas imágenes me recuerdan la necesidad de que todos contribuyamos a erradicar la pobreza.Those images remind me/bring to my mind the need for all of us to contribute towards eradicating poverty.
Esto me recuerda a lo que pasó el mes pasado en Madrid.This reminds me of/ is similar to what happened last month in Madrid.
Ese hombre me recuerda mucho a mi padre. Tiene los mismos ojos.That man reminds me of my dad. He has the same eyes.
La escena de amor en la película me recuerda a nuestra primera cita.The love scene in the movie reminds me of our first date.
Let me take a look at that...