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Why can't I use forgot in this sentence?

I'll have to go back, I've forgotten my wallet at home.

apaderno
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Elizabeth
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    It's more idiomatic to say "I've forgotten my wallet" (forgotten to bring it with me) or "I've left my wallet at home". – Kate Bunting Jan 15 '24 at 10:49
  • I disagree. Simple Past is nearly always more idiomatic in contexts where both are possible, such as here. Google Books has 8 instances of *have to go back, I've forgotten my*, plus a couple more for the non-contracted version. That's as compared to several dozen instances of *have to go back, I forgot my*. When in doubt, just forget about Perfect verb forms. – FumbleFingers Jan 15 '24 at 16:56
  • Are you asking why you should use "forgotten" instead of "forgot"... Or are you asking why you shouldn't use either forgotten or forgot, and should use "left" instead. – James K Jan 15 '24 at 18:24
  • @FumbleFingers - I was thinking of the combination of forget with at home rather than the tense! – Kate Bunting Jan 16 '24 at 13:06
  • @KateBunting: Oops! I didn't even notice the non-idiomatic (for me, if not for Lambie below) combination of forget with at home (probably because it saves time to assume every question here concerns Perfect verb forms, until proven otherwise :). On the plus side, though, we seem to have covered all bases between us! – FumbleFingers Jan 16 '24 at 14:26
  • UK: It just so happened that my mate was on holiday that day. Just before I got to the front of the ticket office queue, I realised that I forgot my wallet at home back in Exeter. https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/most-inappropriate-bus.55858/page-2 It's idiomatic, but non-standard as the Cambridge Dictionary says. I dunno but that guy sounds very native British to me. Vocabulary and spelling. The Canonical answer does not answer this. – Lambie Jan 17 '24 at 14:50
  • @Lambie As a native BrE speaker I'm with Kate Bunting's first comment. The post in the Bus Forum sounds as if you forgot that you even possessed a wallet. – Peter Jennings Jan 17 '24 at 23:20
  • @PeterJennings Sorry, but I have to rate the Cambridge Dictionary's definition over both of yours. "more idiomatic" sure. But that does not mean that "forget" is not used instead of "leave". – Lambie Jan 18 '24 at 16:53

1 Answers1

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to not bring something with you because you did not remember it: I forgot my keys.
non standard: I forgot (left) my wallet at home. Cambridge Dictionary

The non-standard forget for leave is used in speech even though the dictionary says it is non standard. It is colloquial.

So, forgotten my keys at home means have left my keys at home.

BASIC DIFFERENCE have forgot/forgotten: present perfect signals the past but not when something occurred. forgot: simple past tense implies an event which is now finished.

Lambie
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