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(textbook example)

A: Honey, which one is for John's birthday? there are two gifts here on the table.

B: Both of them are for John.

A: Then why didn't you put them in one box together?

B: What happened was that I hadn't remembered buying his gift last week and bought another one this afternoon.

(my sentence)

I didn't remember having bought his gift last week and bought another one this afternoon.

the first sentence is what was on my textbook, and the second one is what I made.

first one is where the verb "remember" is written in past tense, and second one is where the verb "buy" is in past tense, so I wondered if the second one I made mean the same thing as the first one.

Do they both mean the same and grammatically correct?

And there's no difference in terms of meaning?

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2 Answers 2

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I hadn't remembered buying his gift last week.

This means you did not buy his gift last week because you forgot at that time.

I didn't remember having bought his gift last week.

This means you bought his gift last week but didn't remember that you bought that gift.

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    Would not the sentence be I hadn't remembered to buy his gift last week. If the meaning was you did not buy his gift last week because you forgot at that time
    – Brad
    Jul 29, 2019 at 6:11
  • @Brad I am not sure but, I think you can use that sentence when you did something to buy his gift, but you forgot the reason why you should do that. If you have a better idea, please share it.thanks. i.e: I hadn't remembered it was to buy his gift last week.
    – Diamond
    Jul 29, 2019 at 6:22
  • what about "I didn't remember buying his gift last week"? sorry it's so confusing
    – dbwlsld
    Jul 29, 2019 at 6:46
  • But then doesn't the textbook example should be the second one that I made? (I didn't remember having bought...) Cause in the context, she end up buying two gifts cause she didn't remember having bought the gift last week. And you said first one means she didn't buy his gift cause she forgot at that time. But as I said in the question, the textbook example sentence is the first one.
    – dbwlsld
    Jul 29, 2019 at 6:49
  • @dbwlsld And Natives say that "having" constructions aren't very common today and can be substituted with simple gerund constructions. The meaning of the verb "remember" implies that you forgot doing something in the past, so the "having" is optional.:D
    – Diamond
    Jul 29, 2019 at 8:23
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I hadn't remembered buying his gift last week and bought another one this afternoon. This means you could not remember buying the gift but suggest you had bought it. However you have now bought a second gift.

I didn't remember having bought his gift last week and bought another one this afternoon.

Is not correct.

"having bought" the addition of having modifies the tense of Bought. However, you use bought again without modification later in the sentence. Try this

I didn't remember having bought his gift last week and I have bought another one this afternoon.

This means you could not remember buying the gift but states you definitely had bought it. However you have now bought a second gift. The difference is negligible but does exist

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