Se cuidarme

Question

The sentence, "gracias por tú interés, pero se cuidarme sola" is, I suppose, something like Thanks, but I can take care of myself. It is the "se cuidarme" that puzzles me. I guess I would have written it as something like "pero puedo cuidarme sola" or perhaps "pero puedo tener cuidado de mí". Can someone explain the grammatical use of the "se" with the indefinite pronoun "me"? It or One cares for me alone/myself?

Answer 1

Sé cuidarme sola.

That sé comes from the verb saber, which means to know. Me is the direct object, it means myself.

Yo sé cuidarme sola. I know how to take care of myself.

I thought sé always had an accent to distinguish itself as being from saber. This word does not have any accent. - RolloMartins, Aug 21, 2016

Spanish speakers not infrequently neglect their accents. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 21, 2016

Yes, the accent in sé is a tilde diacrítica, it is there to distinguish itself from se, as bosque said people often forget to write them. Just like we almost never write ¿ at the beginning of a question :P - mariifer, Aug 21, 2016

I'd also like to note that the accent in tu was probably a mistake! tú (you) tu (your). It should be tu interés! - mariifer, Aug 21, 2016

Answer 2

There's nothing out the extraordinary here.

That se is actually sé coming from the verb saber.