Impersonal and reflexive "se" at the same time
I know that "se" can refer to the passive voice and unidentified subjects, such as "The food was eaten" and "you take the dough and knead it for 2 minutes." I also know that you use it when a third person does something to himself/themselves.
But here's my question: What if you want to use both at the same time? There are some verbs that always get translated into a reflexive verb, like "levantarse" (to get up). What if you want to say, "If you (meaning anyone) want to succeed in life, you get up and do stuff!" Or ducharse (to take a shower): "You (meaning anyone) take a shower and you go to bed." Or "sentarse" (to sit down): You're at friend's house who has an uncomfortable couch and he tells you to sit down, and you say, "How do you (meaning anyone) sit down on such an uncomfortable couch?".
See what I mean?
2 Answers
Better answers may come, but if you don’t try to do literal translations, you can always express whatever you want in some way.
In English we use passive, one, or you, or it is necessary to (and maybe other things I am not thinking of right now). In your example you did the same- you used a generic you, you could have just as easily used a generic one. One must do this to accomplish that.
Options in Spanish include passive (true passive), passive se, hay que/de, uno, and tú used a generic. You could also use alguien.
I find it hard to picture a passive and reflexive at the same time truly, as the reflexive already demands a subject, and the passive is to avoid the subject. And in all the sentences you gave, you went with a generic “you” and you could do precisely the same in Spanish with “tú”. Or “uno” or “alguien”.
So for your last maybe:
¿Cómo se sienta uno/alguien en un sofá tan incómodo?
¿Cómo te sientas (tú en el sentido de cualquier persona) en un sofá tan incómodo?
Now in English you could say "How is such an uncomfortable couch sat on"- and I will admit I do not know how to do exactly that in Spanish, because I don't need to as I have listed 3 things above that communicate the same thing. And in English I would never really say that- I would say how does one/anyone/someone sit on such an uncomfortable couch, or how do you sit on....
You (meaning anyone) take a shower and you go to bed.
Debes ducharte antes de acostarte.
If you (meaning anyone) want to succeed in life, you get up and do stuff!
Si quieres tener éxito en la vida¡ hay que trabajar! ( hay que animarte/ hay que dejar hacer el flojo)
How do you (meaning anyone) sit down on such an uncomfortable couch? Como puedes relajarte/ hacerte cómodo en un sofa tan incómodo/horrible/duro?
