When do you use "le" versus "se"?
I have always been confused on this one. For example, I'm trying to write:
"When an opponent would fall, I would help them." This is what I have so far:
"Cuando un oponente se caía..."
Would I end it with: le ayudaba/se ayudaba/les ayudaba/something else??
If someone would please just explain to me when to use le and when to use se, that would make things so much easier! Gracias!
IN RESPONSE TO EDDY (this was too long for a comment) : But I'm trying to use the imperfect to talk about what I used to do. It's not a hypothetical situation. So far, my sentence reads: "Despues de la escuela, jugaba el futbol con el equipo. Cuando jugaba en un partido, siempre me caía. Y cuando un oponente se caía..." And that's where I need help. So this wouldn't be in a different tense because in my mind, I am trying to portray a situation which would often happen when I was in elementary, so it would be imperfect, correct? If something would/used to happen, that basically defines imperfect. Sorry, maybe this would have made more sense had I posted all of the paragraph before.
1 Answer
Your example using "cuando" intimates that this hasn´t happened yet, or in fact is going to happen, so a subjunctive mood may be required. Personally, not being a native I would say,
"si un oponente se cayese le ayudaría".
"If an opponent were to fall, I would help him.
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