I just don't understand "se me".

Question

In today's Word of the Day, «No quiero llevar mi pasaporte porque tengo miedo que se me pierda.» for example, does the passport lose itself to me? My problem is that there is a rule that when you have both direct and indirect object prepositions together, the indirect precedes the direct. It seems that se is the direct and me is the indirect here. So is that rule violated for reflexive verbs? Gracias por anticipado.

Answer 1

Yes, it is an indirect pronoun (me) but this is a passive voice construction, and in that, se has to lead. It is like 'se habla español´ or ´se venden de todos´ etc etc.

As gringo said above, is this used a lot in Spanish, and grammar books usually call it something like ¨The use of passive se for unintended or accidental events¨

The passive voice lends a feel of less blame, like in English.

I dropped the keys,

vs.

the keys fell, or, the keys were dropped.

In any case, the se proceeds the I.O.P. Note that the verb conjugation has to match the quanitiy of the relevant object. (as in with gustar, interesar, molestar etc)

Se me cayó el café

Se me cayeron las llaves.

Hope that helps.

Thanks rogspax. I think I understand now. Unfortunately this use of indirect objects with passive se does not seem to be covered in the Spanish Grammar section on this webiste. I hope it is added. section - rhrisch, Nov 2, 2012

Great answer, Rog! - Noetol, Nov 2, 2012

Wow. Great job. - gringojrf, Nov 2, 2012

Well, we're doing that stuff in class this week, so it BETTER be fresh in my mind. ;) - rogspax, Nov 3, 2012

Answer 2

It loses itself (from you). In Spanish you don't lose things they just get lost all by themselves. This also works with things that break. They break themselves.

Drop a cup of coffee. Mi café se me cayó.

Also with forgetting "se me olvidó". - Noetol, Nov 2, 2012

Answer 3

It has always seemed to me to be a copout when the maid/cleaner/packer says "se me lo cayo". It wasn't her/his fault was it? oh no! the pestilential thing just decided to fall out of her/his hand. !!!Humph!!!

Answer 4

And, it's covered, a little bit, on this site here.

http://www.spanishdict.com/learn/show/83

and

http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/87

and

http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/88

hope that helps.

Roger

Answer 5

I understand that gringojrf. But isn't me an indirect object pronoun so according to the usual rule, it should be me se pierda?