Word of the day from yesterday. Using "se"

Question

Me molesta que Sofía se copió de mi examen.

Using 'se' in this sentence. Is this saying that Sofia herself copied my exam. Could se be left out? Is this a reflexive construction or something else?

Thanks

now I'm thinking passive - swampy, Jan 31, 2013

While we are on that sentence, shouldn't copiar be in the subjunctive, "copie" instead of the preterit copió? - rhrisch, Jan 31, 2013

Now I'm not thinking passive because Sofia is doing the action. - swampy, Jan 31, 2013

Answer 1

Interesting. It feels, to me, more like that ¨accidental¨ construction is being used.

Se me olvidó las llaves. Se me cayó el vaso. etcetera.

Of course, this isn´t accidental, but I think it´s a way of softening the accusation using a more passive construction, leaving the focus of the sentence on ¨me moleta¨ and subordinating the copying.

83.7 % chance I´m full of crap on that, so I look forward to the natives´ responses.

I also found a lot of references to copiarse on google and linguee, where the passive is used for making copies in general, and in places where we´d tend more towards the active.

aquí está

By any chance do you know how to say "full of crap" (just at that level - no stronger) in Spanish? I'm serious! - Jubilado, Jan 31, 2013

Maybe that's exactly the sense here: "She made a copy of my test" where in English we think of copying as analogous with cheating. - Jubilado, Jan 31, 2013

Answer 2

Pretty sure the se can definitely be left out here. Otherwise, it could mean she copied herself from my exam. It sounds better to me without the se.