A question on caerse

Question

Hola a todos

Could someone please help me with the following:

I want to say "this morning I fell over" and have written "Hoy por la manaña me he caído"

I know that caerse is a reflexive verb, so am I correct in thinking that the 'se' on the end of caer changes to 'me' to reflect that the action has fallen (excuse the pun) back on me.

Gracias

Do you need to use the perfect? You wrote "This morning I have fallen" Sounds odd to me. - ian-hill, Oct 5, 2010

Answer 1

I know that caerse is a reflexive verb, so am I correct in thinking that the 'se' on the end of caer changes to 'me' to reflect that the action has fallen (excuse the pun) back on me.

No, it is not a reflexive verb, and the action has nothing reflexive in it. While 'caer' simply means to go down due to gravity, 'caerse' focuses on the transition from being upright or stable, to actually fall. 'Las gotas de lluvia caen' is fine, because you are just describing their motion, but 'se caen' would as as if they lost balance and fell from the cloud by accident, which sounds ridiculous. We have two versions of one verb where in English you only use one:

fall

1. to suddenly go down onto the ground or towards the ground without intending to or by accident: The path's very steep, so be careful you don't fall.
2. to come down onto the ground or from a high position to a lower position: The snow had been falling steadily all day.

The first meaning is 'caerse'; the second one is 'caer'.

Answer 2

I also found this article, previously posted by Quentin to be very interesting regarding 'se' with unplanned occurrences:

Answer 3

Nice pun! As the others have already said, your understanding of the reflexive use here is correct, but if you are talking about a one time event, I would say it in simple past tense and not present perfect, "Hoy por la manaña me caí"

Julian why not get straight to the point and just say this morning or leave this morning out and say today, do you need to say today during the morning? - kenwilliams, Oct 5, 2010

hoy por la mañana = early today. - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 5, 2010

Answer 4

Esta mañana me he caido. This morning I fell. Yes you were right to say me he for the reflexive verb, ha caido = he/she fell and soforth I take it that you know all the congugations of the auxilary verb haber.

Thank you for your help and yes I know the conjugations of the verb haber. - 009a6649, Oct 5, 2010

Answer 5

Yes.

Yo...caerme

There are several other verbs used in this context depending on what made you fall over (you tripped over something, you fainted, you stumbled, etc.)

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