This common word setup is confusing me.

Question

"A Tom a siempre se le ocurría otra cosa peor." Ok so in that sentence i see this all the time this triple combination of words se followed by le then the usage of third person, so "se le third person", So like the first sentence this confuses me i dont understand it, and it has been troubling me for a long time now. Can someone pick this apart for me thanks.

Answer 1

I think this is a pronominal usage of "ocurrir," which is an intransitive verb meaning "to occur," but in its pronominal form "ocurrirse" can be exactly as we use it in English: "It occurs to [indirect object pronoun]" as in "It occurred to me that this was the answer."

So, with the triple combination you mention, you have the verb conjugated third person imperfect for the subject "it." You have the "se" identifying this verb as pronominal. And you have the "le" as the indirect object pronoun: It occurred to him.

The rest of the sentence fleshes this out. "A Tom" identifies the indirect object. "Otra cosa peor" identifies the subject. And "siempre" adds information: So "It occurred to him" becomes "Something worse always occurred to Tom" or, perhaps more naturally "Tom always thought of something worse / Tom would always think of something worse."

Answer 2

Hi Jello, you might want to read this

verbos impersonales relfexivos como ocurrisele

Thanks Heidita. I think it's just different terminology explaining the same thing :) - jellonz, Jun 23, 2017

Answer 3

"A Tom siempre se le ocurría otra cosa peor."

Ocurrirse: to come up with (always with se)

This is a reflexive impersonal verb, always with "se" (impersonal) and with a reflexive pronoun "le".

In English the sentence is not impersonal.

Tom always came up with something even worse.

A Tom = le

ocurrirse: to come up with

otra cosa peor: something even worse.

Spanish grammar sucks...I know..right?

I do not know what "come up with" is, I would use "come to mind" :) - txustaboy, Jun 23, 2017

Heidita, careful with confusing terminology that can be misleading, "le" is not the reflexive pronoun but the indirect object. - Shamelesspanish, Jun 23, 2017