Showing results for se
See entry for:
- saber
se
itself
A reflexive pronoun that turns the action back on the subject
Encoding Strategies:
repetition
Se means itself, and it signals that the subject is doing the action to itself0.
se
itself, himself, herself, themselves (reflexive)
The subject does the action to itself.
- Se afeitó por la mañana = He shaved himself in the morning
- Ya se viste ella sola = She can already dress herself
- Se lastimaron jugando = They hurt themselves playing
each other, one another (reciprocal)
When the subject is plural, 'self' extends naturally to mean each person does it to the other.
- Se miraron y sonrieron = They looked at each other and smiled
- Hace años que no se ven = They haven't seen each other in years
(impersonal)
When there's no clear subject performing the action, Spanish uses 'se' to make the verb impersonal or passive. It's as if the action just "does itself."
- Se habla español aquí = Spanish is spoken here (Spanish speaks itself here)
- Se dice que es muy rico = They say he's very rich ("that he's very rich" says itself)
se
him, her, them
A stand-in for le / les when followed by lo, la, los, or las
Encoding Strategies:
repetition
When an indirect object (le, les) comes before a direct object (lo, la, los, las), the indirect object becomes se. Otherwise 'le lo' or 'les lo' would stack two similar sounds together, so Spanish smooths it out to se lo.
se lo
him, her, them (indirect object)
The indirect object pronoun, equivalent to 'le' or 'les'.
- Se lo di a María = I gave it to María
- ¿El libro? Se lo presté a Juan = The book? I lent it to Juan
- Se las mandé a mis padres = I sent them to my parents