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| The Pronoun se |
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Se in an unstressed third-person pronoun that serves a variety of grammatical functions. |
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REFLEXIVE SE |
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- Reflexive se is part of a full conjugation. (See reflexive). It can appear in either with either a third-person singular or third-person plural verb:
- Norma se levanta a las seis, y sus hijas se levantan a las siete y media.
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IMPERSONAL SE |
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- Impersonal se appears only with third-person singular verb forms. This structure describes actions or states involving unspecified persons.
- Los sábados se va al cine o se limpia la casa.
- On Saturdays one goes to the movies or cleans the house.
- ¿Qué se hace por aquí cuando llueve?
- What does one do around here when it rains?
- It cannot be used with a third-person reflexive verb form, since se will already be present; the pronoun uno/a can be used instead to represent the non-specific persons performing action:
- En las residencias estudiantiles, uno se levanta después de las diez los sábados por la mañana.
- In the dorms, one gets up after ten on Saturday mornings.
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PASSIVE SE |
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Passive se appears with third-person singular and plural verb forms to express actions in the passive; the person doing the actions are not specified. |
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- The verb agrees with the subject in number (singular or plural); the subject most often follows verb:
- Se venden más de mil copias al día de ese periódico.
- More than one hundred copies of that newspaper are sold per day.
- Se oye música en el parque.
- Music is heard in the park.
- Exception: When the noun following the verb noun is preceded by the personal a, the verb must be singular, regardless of whether the noun is singular or plural:
- Se critica a ese político / Se critica a esos políticos.
- That politician is criticized / Those politicians are criticized.
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SE AN AN INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN |
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- Se is used in place of indirect object pronouns le and les when a direct object pronoun follows:
- Le explico la gramática a Juan; Le→Se la explico después de la clase.
- See indirect objects.
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THE SELE CONSTRUCTION |
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- Se is combined with an indirect object pronoun to describe unexpected or accidental events:
- A mi hermana se le ocurrió una idea brillante.
- Click here for more examples.
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