Construction with Se

Question

I'm having difficulty getting this. I have my answers in Bold, can someone tell me if I have them right and explain? Thanks!

Lee estas oraciones sobre la vida en 1901. Indica si lo que dice cada oración es cierto o falso.

1. Se veía mucha televisión. cierto falso

2. Se escribían muchos libros. cierto falso

3. Se viajaba mucho en tren. cierto falso

4. Se montaba a caballo. cierto falso

5. Se mandaba correo electrónico. cierto falso

6. Se preparaban comidas en casa. cierto falso

7. Se llevaban minifaldas. cierto falso

8. Se pasaba mucho tiempo con la familia. cierto falso

Answer 1

These are actually the passive voice constructions using the reflexive pronoun "se" (known as the se passive) ..

As you have already made an attempt I can help you understand these sentences ..

1st. One means .. "a lot of telivion was seen/watched (by people) .. which can be said in active voice as "people used to watch a lot of television". And you have answered this correctly as there wasn't any television back then .. so it should be Falso.

2nd. Means .. a lot of books used to be written (in active voice : people/writers/authors used to write lots of books).. The answer to this one should be "cierto" in my opinion (relative to the current scenario) because the print media was the only media available and there was no electronic and cyber media etc in existence .. so I would say "cierto" on this one.

3rd .. this one is the impersonal se (another kind of se passive) which means ,, one used to travel a lot by train ... now I think this one too should be cierto because other modes of transportation like cars, aviation etc were not yet invented I guess . Hehe .. so I would say "cierto". (But you might want to google it upm.. hehe ..

4th .. This again is the impersonal se .. which means .. one used to ride horses . Or people used to ride horses .. you have answered this correctly .. "cierto" it is.

5th. One used to comunicate by emails .. this should be "falso".

6th. Meals used to be cooked in homes .. cierto ..

7th. Mini skirts used to be worn .. Falso.

8th. One would spend a lot of time with the family .. shoukd be cierto in my opinion as life wasn't too busy back then ,,

Good luck

Thank you for the help. This makes sense to me now. - adlmay15, Jul 31, 2014

welcome - 00b055e0, Jul 31, 2014