Second Person and se impersonal vs se reflexivo

Question

I am translating something for my sister. In the original she uses the second person tense to speak directly with the readers: "That’s the trouble with little brothers: they are fast and tricky. Just when you think you have them cornered, they run away and leave you in the dust."

Should I write: "Así es el problema con hermanitos: son rápidos y timadores. Justo a antes de que se piense que se los tenga, se le escabullen y alejarse rápidamente."

Or is it better understood: "Así es el problema con hermanitos: son rápidos y timadores. Justo a antes de que te pienses que te los tengas, se te escabullen y alejarse rápidamente."?

What I'm wondering is if second person is used often in Spanish, and if not, in the first version does the 'se impersonal' get confused with the 'se reflexivo' in the second clause of the second paragraph?

Answer 1

I agree that the 2nd person formal used pronominally can be confused with the impersonal se. Whether the meaning is impersonal or referring to the person being addressed is usually taken from context.

However, you seem to be making a distinction that this only happens with the formal tone and not with informal tú. This article explains that the impersonal you can be said with either tú or usted.

...You (there's an example!) can do much the same thing in Spanish with usted or tú, although that usage is probably a bit less common in Spanish than in English. The use of usted or tú as an impersonal pronoun is frequent in proverbs or sayings, although it is common in everyday speech as well.

¡Bienvenido al foro!

Welcome to the forum!

Answer 2

Ese es el problema con hermanitos: son rápidos y timadores. Justo [a] cuando se piensa que se los tiene, se [le] escabullen y se alejan rápidamente.

That "se los tienes" sounds rather strange within another subordinate without agent; too many unknowns. I would go for "los tenemos", which is still a generic and non-specific way of expressing the idea. Actually, "cuando pensamos que los tenemos" would not necessarily refer to us neither.

Ese es el problema con hermanitos: son rápidos y timadores. Justo [a] antes de que te pienses que te los tienes, se te escabullen y se alejan rápidamente.

By the way, to me "timador" is a swindler.