He knew what he was doing - se hacía? Why se?
2
votes
Sabía lo que se hacía.
Como alguien que le ha visto en acción,
Hay que decir que Glenn sabía lo que se hacía
En esa maldita ciudad.
I gotta say that Glenn knew what he was doing (transliterated hay que)
1622 views
updated Feb 2, 2012
posted by jeezzle
2 Answers
3
votes
Good question, Jeezz!
In this case, the sentence is exactly the same as:
...sabía lo que hacía
which is the normal (standard) way of saying it.
That "se" is an extra, and it sounds between informal, colloquial and emphatic. It doesn't fit well in all the contexts, and it's mainly spoken.
Standard: Tranquilo, sé lo que hago
Colloquial: Tranquilo, sé lo que me hago
Calm down, I do know what I'm doing.
updated Feb 2, 2012
edited by cogumela
posted by cogumela
Tal vez sea un uso común en España, pero yo nunca he visto "lo que se hacía" como equivalente a "lo que hacía". Para mi significan dos cosas distintas. - Gekkosan, Feb 2, 2012
2
votes
Sabía lo que se hacía.
He knew what was being done.
Sabía lo que hacía ...... He knew what he was doing.
updated Feb 2, 2012
posted by 005faa61
No.... that "se" is colloquial - cogumela, Feb 2, 2012
well, that is actually a possible translation , juli, mi amor, pero en otro contexto... - 00494d19, Feb 2, 2012
I am sorry - maybe there is some colloquial or reginal use of "se hacía" in Spain I´m not aware of, but on this one I agree with Julian, and disagree with Cogumela and Heidita. I understand the original sentence to mean that Glenn knew what was going on - Gekkosan, Feb 2, 2012
...in that darned city. - Gekkosan, Feb 2, 2012
