te sabías

Question

I heard a song with the line "...esa canción que tanto te sabías" and was interested in the use of "te" here. I looked up "saberse" in the dictionary and it said "to know something" but that really doesn't explain why "...te sabías" should be used in place of merely "...sabías" (if indeed it should).

Is it a pronominal construction? I thought that pronominal verbs simply took "se" rather than "me" or "te" etc. If not, then is it reflexive'''?

All answers welcome

Answer 1

I was confused with the terminology and usage and now understand them both.

Thank you to everyone who posted.

Answer 2

Is it a pronominal construction? I thought that pronominal verbs simply took "se" rather than "me" or "te" etc. If not, then is it reflexive'''?

A pronominal construction is -if we look at the word- a construction that uses a pronoun, and since "me" and "te" are pronouns... This term, however, is often used to differentiate reflexive constructions from other ones where the pronoun has no syntactic function, and it can be regarded as part of the verb.

This particular pronoun here is called "dative" by grammars, and as Ninoska explained above, it turns saber (to know) into "saberse" (to know completely/by heart). Some books call it "completion SE" or "delimiting SE", because they are used to indicate that some specific action has been taken to its limit (in this case: to know completely, every bit of it). It is also known as "consumption SE", for it appears mostly with this kind of verbs.

Other examples:

Comerse algo
Beberse algo
Fumarse algo

Answer 3

Pues sí, "te" es un pronombre reflexivo en 2da persona.
En la linea de esa canción también pudieron usar "tú".
"Esa canción que tanto tú sabías"; aunque en algunas canciones y poesías se utilizan ambas juntas "Tú te", "yo me", etc. para dar métrica a la estrofa, verso, que se yo; y es posible que se oiga como un pleonasmo pero, es válido.

Answer 4

I think that you are confusing some of the terminology here, so let me expound upon what you said to make sure that I am understanding you correctly.

First, you asked if it is a pronominal construction. By that I assume that you are asking whether the te is an object pronoun or a reflexive pronoun (The pronominal verb construction uses the reflexive pronoun whether the construction is reflexive or not.) The answer is yes.

Your other question about pronominal verbs using se rather than me, te, etc. leads me to believe that you may be confusing impersonal construction with pronominal construction. Reflexive, impersonal, reciprocal, idiomatic and other verb constructions are all pronominal verb constructions. It may not be informative as to why, but it's simple to remember that pronominal verb forms all incorporate the reflexive pronoun.

I believe that you were thinking of the impersonal (pronominal) verb construction when you mentioned it using exclusively the 3rd person reflexive pronoun se. They usually explain it to we students as the subject being "one" says or "one" does, etc. The subject being "one" (not really, but simple [misleading] explanations are usually given beginners) means that the reflexive pronoun would always be se rather than me, te, etc.

Now that I've confused myself and probably you, let's get back to your original question. We had a previous thread here explaining how the pronominal verb construction is sometimes used to express completeness. I think we could apply that reasoning is this case. The pronominal usage is used to emphasize complete knowledge (familiarity) over the non-pronominal usage. Or it could be idiomatic. Many verbs greatly change their meaning on whether the pronominal or non-pronominal verb is chosen...caer=to fall caerse=to drop.

I think Ninoska was correct. The pronominal verb construction was chosen to express the meaning that you know so well or by heart rather than something that you are just aware of.

Answer 5

well im not the best one to answer for sure anyways.... i'll say that in southamerican spanish ' te sabias " means like knowing something bye heart ..
" Te " use examples
Te sabias
te creias la mejor
te pensabas que era facil
te preguntabas porque no llegue ?
it is like a personal way o talk to a person
i hope i don't donfuse you and i also want to know more about the use of this " te "