Se me rompió el corazón...

Question

Me preguntaba cuál es correcto. Quiero decir "it broke my heart to see...". Creo que es "se me rompió el corazón a ver....", pero no estoy seguro. Por favor dame una respuesta.

Con un fuerte apretón de manos, Josh.

You changed it from present to past tense after we answered!! - hhmdirocco, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 1

Google hits:

se me encoge el corazón al ver - 1,290 results

Me parte el corazón al ver - 2,840 results. Every result seems to have "se" before "me"

se me rompe el corazón ver - 3,830 results

se me rompe el corazón a ver - 4 results

se me rompe el corazón al ver - 2,480 results.

Just a thought.

Thanks for the info. I definitely understand the construction of se before me but I am not so sure about the prep. or lack thereof before ver - pescador1, Mar 9, 2011

Al ver ... = When (subject) sees/saw ..., or, Upon seeing .... When the infinitive is used as a subject of a sentence, the article "el" is optional. See the examples in my comment under my post. - hhmdirocco, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 2

Now I see it is" se me encogió el corazón al ver" ... so much for guessing and thinking my Spanish is good.

I've just found your thread, Pesca, but from all the responses I don't understand how you came to this conclusion. Did I miss something?

I imagine your sentence would be understood, wouldn't it? I found an example of its use on somebody's Facebook page (without 'a'), so it must be right, eh?

Don't wring your nose trying to figure it out; the original question was changed from present tense to past tense in midstream. I have no idea how it morphed to "encogió." - hhmdirocco, Mar 9, 2011

Wring your nose lol, that's a new one on me! :D - galsally, Mar 10, 2011

Answer 3

(eso, ello) Me rompió/ el corazón / ver...

 (it)     broke/ my heart /to see...

Answer 4

"Se me parte el corazón al ver ..." is what you want there, Josh.

There are other ways to say it, of course (such as, romper el corazón).

"Se me rompió el corazón" is preterite (past) tense and means, "My heart broke."

Nice effort!

Why wouldn't it be "se me parte el corazón al ver"? - jeezzle, Mar 9, 2011

Give me my 99 cents and I'll tell you! - hhmdirocco, Mar 9, 2011

Because it's late at night, that's why!! Thanks, jeezle; I will edit it to read, "Se me parte ..." instead of "Me parte ...." - hhmdirocco, Mar 9, 2011

"Se me parte el corazón al ver ..." = "My heart breaks when I see ...." ... "Me parte el corazón (el) ver ..." = "It breaks my heart to see ...." It depends on how passive/active you want it to sound. See qfreed's comment. - hhmdirocco, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 5

Now I see it is" se me encogió el corazón al ver" ... so much for guessing and thinking my Spanish is good.

It would be encogió The subject is el corazón, the "my"' is given by the i.o.p. "me" - 0074b507, Mar 9, 2011

I think I changed it before you posted, but I understand. - pescador1, Mar 9, 2011

Answer 6

delete-better answer given.

I would have seen that as more passive voice ..my heart was broken to see...but I see no change it meaning. I think Spanish likes to conceal the agent more than English where the "it" makes it more active voice.

Answer 7

I'll bet you 99 cents it's se me rompe el corazón ver without the a there. And please don't be squeezin on me, I hate that.