se me han olvidado vs han olvidado
Hola amigos!
Can anybody explain me construction "se + me/te/le... etc."? I just can't get what's the difference between those two sentences:
He olvidado las llaces en casa. Se me han olvidado las llaven en casa.
Are they really different? Those are examples from my spanish book Aprender gramatica i vocabulario 4.
4 Answers
In our college textbooks, this construction is called "using the reflexive "se" for unexpected occurrences." I call it the "avoiding blame" construction.
I'll begin by using a similar construction in English.
If you take the blame you say. "I dropped my keys" To avoid blame you say "My keys fell"
If you forget someone's name, (and take the blame) you say "I forgot his/her name."
To avoid blame you say, "His name slips my mind"
I Lost my wallet becomes "My wallet got lost" ( as if it just jumped down the street and flip-flopped its way out of sight. 
)
In Spanish as you have noted the construction begins with "se" then an indirect object pronoun then the verb which will agree with the thing that fell down, got lost, slipped your mind, etc. ( se + i/o + verb )
Spanish:
I forgot his name. "Olvidé su nombre" (o me olvidé de su nombre)
(To avoid blame.) "Se me olvidó su nombre".
Pedro lost his wallet. "Pedro perdió su billetera."
(To avoid blame) "A Pedro se le perdió la billetera."
I dropped the keys. "Dejé caer las llaves."
(Avoiding blame) "Se me cayeron las llaves.
Here I just used the preterite tense. It works in any tense where it's logical.
OK so it's not so short,but it's clear and devoid of as many obtuse grammatical terms as possible. (I never even heard of "pronomial" until I came here )
I have a really good short and very clear answer for you, but I want to see if you're interested enough to come back and fill out your profile. This is a subject that I address in my college classes. It is so simple you won't believe it.
He olvidado las llaves- I have forgotten the keys
Se me han olvidado las llaves- The keys have been forgotten by me.
You can find much discussion regarding the subtle differences between differing ways of expressing this as a concept in Spanish, and the regional variation of the choices.
I suggest looking through these two threads:
http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=10506
There is more at this thread than I am going to bring over- ignore the first answer, but the second and third are good, especially the third, which I will quote part of:
Ia) "Olvidar" as a transitive verb -people of things end up forgotten-. The subject is a person, the direct object is the forgotten things or persons.
No olvide su vuelto/a (Don't forget your change)
No la había olvidado (He hadn't forgotten her)
Ib) Same, but the speaker can choose to add a pronombre átono which must agree with the subject
¡Me olvidé la llave en casa!
[I'll come back to this later]
II) "Olvidar" as an intransitive pronominal verb -people end up being kind of "one-time forgetters" of things and people-. The subject is a person and a complement starting with "de" identifies the things of people forgotten.
No te olvides de pedirle que te devuelva el libro (Don't forget to ask the book back)
III) "Olvidar" also as an intransitive pronominal verb, but with subject being the things or people forgotten and the person forgetting appears in an indirect complement:
Se te olvida quien manda aquí. (You're forgetting who's the boss)
Educated people use all forms according to the situation, although some regional differences may favour some use or other.
Speakers in Spain and the Southern Cone may say that Mexicans use III too much. Some may say sometimes it sounds too much personal.
Speakers in Mexico may say Spaniards and people in the Southern Cone use Ib and II too much. Some may say sometimes it sounds to much impersonal.
Ask a native speaker and every one will give you a personal view -without realizing it's a personal view-.
http://spanish.about.com/od/translationsfromenglish/a/recordar-olvidar.htm
Olvidar: Olvidar is the only verb in common use that means "to forget." It sometimes is used in the reflexive form, often in the phrase "olvidarse de," which can (but doesn't always) suggest deliberate forgetting. In some areas, olvidarse without the de is common.
• Los Spurs olvidaron el estilo que los había distinguido. The Spurs forgot the style that had distinguished them. • • ¡Ayúdame! Olvidé mi contraseña de Hotmail. Help! I forgot my Hotmail password. • • No voy a olvidar nunca mi visita a Málaga. I'll never forget my visit to Málaga. • • Me olvidaré que fuiste mío y que ahora te perderé. I'll forget that you were mine and that now I will lose you. • • ¿Por qué nos olvidamos de fechas importantes? Why do we forget important dates? • ¡No olvidemos lo nuestro! Let's not forget what's ours! •
Often olvidarse can function like gustar, in that the thing forgotten becomes the subject of the verb, and the person(s) who forgot becomes the indirect object:
• Es un video que no se te olvidará nunca. It's a video you'll never forget. (Literally, it's a video that will never be forgotten to you.) • • Un día se me olvidaron las llaves del carro. One day I forgot the car keys. • • Se me olvidó el coche en el autolavado y cerraba a las 6. I forgot the car in the car wash and it closed at 6.
Hi Dani and Bosque - this additional question is too involved for the commenting section and applies to both your answers so I'll post it here. I've picked a couple of your examples to highlight a difference.
Bosque's example: Se me han olvidado las llaves = The keys have been forgotten by me
Dani's example: Se me cayeron las llaves = My keys fell
Both these examples make sense to me as they seem to be variations on a passive "se" construction:
Se han olivado las llaves = The keys have been forgotten > And adding the "me" indicates who did the forgetting.
Se cayeron las llaves = The keys fell > And adding the "me" indicates ownership of the keys.
But, in the first the "me" indicates who did the action, and in the second it indicates who owns what the verb is referring to. So, my question is how do we know which to use or could either apply. Eg: Would "Me perdieron las llaves" = "My keys were lost" or "The keys were lost by me" or could it be both?
