caer vs caerse
Can someone explain when to use one vs the other? They both appear to mean "to fall" or "to fall down".
2 Answers
Hi, DR, in English we have the habit of putting prepositions with verbs to indicate some sort of motion or action; examples: to get up, to sit down, to turn around, to fall down...
Spanish frequently uses a reflexive structure to convey this meaning: examples: levantarse, sentarse, volverse, caerse.
Regarding your question - Caer" is to fall, and "caerse" is more "to fall down" or "to fall off [of something, such as a stool or ladder].
I hope this has helped.
http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100021/reflexive-verbs
caerse is the reflexive form of caer
eg... estoy a punto de caer vs me caí (caerse) de la cama... I'm about to fall vs I fell out of bed If you said "yo caí de la cama" it has a different sense even though it can be translated the same way and it is normally said reflexively.
se implies onself... te ... yourself... and me... myself
