hy the se is placed before the se, le, te, or nos here are some examples...
Hi everyone i've been studying and learning spanish for a little over three years now and I'm doing ok! However I still can not grasp the pronombre "se" in certain aspects of its usage and I am hoping that you fine people can help me out a little bit.
I know already that basicly se ha realizado means it has been accomplished but what I wish to know is
Does the "se" mean the action of it being accomplished?
also why is "se" placed before the "te" in the following sentance?
What I really wish to know is if anyone could explain why the se is placed before the se, le, te, or nos here are some examples.
se te pone en libertad se le llama se le llame se nos a dado se te ocurre algo mas?
I've asked many spanish speaking friends to explain its usage "se" , however to them its easy to comprehend having been raised speeking spanish and they can not really give me a clear answer to which im satisfied. I know someone out there can help me understand.
Thank you very much!!!
3 Answers
I am often confused by this concept as well, and I have been studying Spanish for 4 years. So if nothing else, I wanted to express my solidarity!
My current understanding is that, as noted previously, the "se" in these kinds of constructions acts essentially as part of the verb rather than a true pronoun, for the purpose of expressing passivity, or of at least leaving out a subject. One you're sure to be familiar with, "Se habla español", means "Spanish is spoken", or in a slightly different context could mean "(En Argentina) se habla español", to say "They speak Spanish (in Argentina).
However, I think what you are getting at is that the use of "se" becomes ambiguous when there is another pronoun in the sentence. So for one of your examples "Se te ocurre", obviously we see that te is the indirect object of the verb in the third person singular. Se serves the purpose of further separating the object from the verb. "Se te ocurre" translates more or less as "It occurs to me", rather than something less passive like "I'm aware of".
Another example is "se me olvidó". Literally "something forgot itself to me". We use this of course to say, simply, "I forgot..." But it is said passively (with se) so that we are removing blame from ourselves and describing ourselves more as the victim of something having been forgotten, rather than perpetrators of the forgetting.
Best of luck in continuing to clarify the concept!
Without being given complete sentences it is difficult to provide an answer to why the reflexive pronoun is accompanying a particular verb. Some of the uses for the reflexive pronoun to be used in conjunction with the verb are to express impersonal use, passive voice, reflexive use, to detransitize the verb, to express reciprocity, to express a pronominal meaning different than the meaning of the non-pronminal verb or to express connotations of completeness, suddeness or for blame shift in unforseen circumstances. I am sure that this list in not exhaustive.
Also, the se under certain conditions can be an indirect object pronoun rather than a reflexive pronoun.
Only being provided a fragment of a sentence doesn't allow one to determine with any certainty what function that the pronoun is serving. Sometimes it can be serving more that one purpose.
Se is used to create the passive voice so that the one doing the action is not mentioned/relevant.
Por ejemplo:
Se subirán los impuestos. = Taxes will be raised. (No mention of specifically who will raise them)
Se ve la playa desde el hotel. = The beach is visible from the hotel.
Se can also be used in impersonal expressions, where it is similar to the English use of "one, you, they, people"
Ejemplo:
Se habla mucho de La Copa Mundial. = They're talking a lot about the World Cup.
Se debe revisar antes de tomar el examen. = One/You should study before taking the test.
