Many websites use the phrase 'Forgot password?' when prompting users to renew their login passwords. Is this correct usage or should it be 'Forgotten password?'.
5 Answers
Both are acceptable depending on the context.
"Forgot password" could simply be an informal (shortened) way of saying "I forgot my password." We commonly miss out pronouns to be succinct. In this case, the words form a statement.
Similarly, "Forgot password" could be a shortened form of the question "Have you forgotten your password?".
"Forgotten password" uses the gerundive (Attributive Verb), and thus is also perfectly fine, in that the page is directing the user to their forgotten password. Here, the words form a noun phrase.
Awesome question.
Forgot password?
This is short for "You forgot your password?" which is simple past which specifies something that happened at a specific time in the past, namely, right when you came to the site, it was then that you "realized you forgot your password".
Forgotten password?
This is short for "Have you forgotten your password?" which is present perfect which means starting at some point in the past and continuing up to and including the present.
So technically the second is correct if you are describing the psychological act of forgetting. But it sounds odd since the question is really asking, "Did you just try to remember your password and you forgot it at that moment?"
So my vote is for "Forgot your password?
answered Aug 13, 2010 at 9:02
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1"Our" sounds patronizing to me. Unless it's a typo; my vote would go to "Forgot your password?".– ThomasAug 13, 2010 at 9:53
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@Thomas – The whole “Forgot your password?” thing is patronizing; might as well go whole hog and have something like “Oh dear, have we forgotten our password?” pop up after a failed authentication attempt. Aug 18, 2012 at 18:10
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@JamesWaldby-jwpat7 I disagree that "Forgot your password?" is patronising. But perhaps that's a BrE-AmE difference. The tone in which it is said would make a difference though. Either way it's certainly more informal.– PharapJul 25, 2022 at 21:05
The past participle of to forget is forgotten or forgot, in the same way the past participle of to get is gotten or got.
In my experience, forgotten as in forgotten password is seen as an adjective; Forgot password? is understood as Have you forgot your password?
answered Aug 13, 2010 at 14:17
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Yep. Forgotten password + link reads as "click here to see a forgotten password". The other way is much better.– llyApr 9, 2017 at 18:29
Yep! By itself, without other context, ("forgotten password"), I'd be reading "forgotten" as a participle (a verb form used as an adjective, describing the noun "password"). reference: more participle info.
In a different context ("Have you forgotten your password?"), the same word becomes part of the verb phrase ("have forgotten"), which tells what the "you" did. No longer does it describe "password"; now "Have...forgotten" is the verb (what you did), and "password" is the direct object of that verb (the thing you forgot). reference: more direct object info.
It is not wrong to use "Forgot Password" but there must be a question mark at the end. So the correct form is one of the following.
Forgot password?
Forgot your password?
Google, for example, does it correctly.
answered Aug 13, 2010 at 9:02
Forgot your password?andHave you forgotten your password?