Why do you need 'se' in this sentence??
•se me ha dormido la pierna -> my leg has gone to sleep
I don't understand why there is 'se' in this sentence... please explain it to me ..... I'm so confused!
Plus, if I want to say "When do you go to sleep?" How do I say it? Is "Cuándo se te duermes" right? I just put the 'se' in there because I felt like I should...
2 Answers
Spanish has it's own phrasings for certain things and the construction carries with it a nuance of meaning.
In the pronominal construction of se me olvidó las llaves there is a blame shift from "I" [the indirect object shows possession or who is effected by the verbs action] to the keys. It is similar to the shift with passive voice from active voice or vice versa. The keys were forgotten to me diminishes the role of the agent from the active form I forgot my keys.
Other pronominal meanings that are added by using the se are completeness and suddenness as well as the unforeseen events or the accidentally of forgotten keys.
Se me perdieron las llaves. I accidently lost my keys or The keys were lost to me.
se me ha dormido la pierna (again the i.o.p. shows possession...my leg or the leg has fallen asleep on me)
This passive construction states that your leg is doing something to you rather than stating you as the agent did something. I put my leg to sleep. It is just a construction that allows you to emphasize your leg and subdue your role in the context.
Your mention of the verb dormir suggests an excellent example of a pronominal meaning over a non-pronominal one.
dormí=I slept
se dormí=I fell asleep
The "se" is not thrown into the sentence at random. It usually changes the meaning of the sentence somewhat. We have some previous theads on this construction that go into much more detail if you care to research it. As I recall a few of them are about the pronominal construction using the verb doler compared to the intransitive use of the verb.
Simple. The subject is "la pierna", and without "se", I would be the object (-> me). Since "dormir" means sleep when there is no object, and "put to sleep" when it has an object, the sentence would mean:
me ha dormido la pierna -> my leg has put me to sleep
Now, add "se", and now the leg "goes to sleep", and that "me" indicates whose leg has gone to sleep.
Plus, if I want to say "When do you go to sleep?" How do I say it? Is "Cuándo se te duermes" right?
No, it is wrong. In the first sentence you were talking about the leg, so for "it" you use "se", but here you are talking to someone using "you", so you use "te". The sentence should be "te duermes" (you fall asleep). That "se" should be removed (there is already a reflexive pronoun: "te")
