a question about 'se'

Question

'se' for me is so difficult !!!

I read 2 sentences today:

(1) sabemos que la comida no se prepara ni se sirve de la misma manera en todas partes

(2) el primero y el segundo plato se sirven uno tras otro

why the 1st sentence use se sirve while the second one use se sirven there? I am so confused...

Answer 1

What is served in the first statement is singular (la comida)

What is served in the 2nd statement is plural (compound): the 1st and 2nd dish.

And it is a very confusing issue. I was just looking at a sentence using the impersonal se (the famous "se habla español") trying to see what happens when the object is plural What if it were "español e inglés?) Would it be habla or hablan?

And how does one know if it is impersonal se or passive voice where the verb is definitely plural for plural subjects?

One would assume that both would use the 3rd person plural if the subject/object is plural, but do they? Most articles say the impersonal se only uses the 3rd person singular.

If you need an example of the confusion, just look in our own library on the impersonal se and look at the comments about the inconsistency of the examples that have never been explained.

impersonal se-Ref. article

Example sentences from article.

No se permiten fotos aquí. (Photographs are not permitted.)

Se espera los resultados.

Both of these can't be correct.

By the way, here is a good article on passive voice vs impersonal se. See if you can figure out which is which.

passive voice/impersonal se

Many native speakers can't tell between those two either, so don't beat yourself too hard for it. In any case, *I* wouldn't say 'Se espera los resultados'. I'd say 'Se esperan..', although I often heard 'Se espera' with a plural object. - bill1111, Dec 4, 2010

By the way, when I hear 'Se espera los resultados', I tend to think that it is implying 'Se espera conocer los resultados'; thus the singular conjugation. - bill1111, Dec 4, 2010

Answer 2

The first sentence uses the 3rd person singular form of servir which is "sirve" because "la comida" is singular.

The second sentence uses 3rd person plural because they are talking about two plates of food so it's "sirven."