Me corté la mano en la cocina.

I cut my hand in the kitchen.

Breakdown of Me corté la mano en la cocina.

• yo: I
• en: in
• la cocina: the kitchen
• cortarse: to cut oneself
• la mano: the hand

Questions & Answers about Me corté la mano en la cocina.

Why is the reflexive pronoun me used in this sentence?

The pronoun me indicates that the subject is also the receiver of the action. In this case, it means that the speaker cut their own hand. Spanish uses reflexive constructions like cortarse to show that the subject performs the action on themselves.

Why do we say la mano instead of mi mano when referring to "my hand"?

In Spanish, when talking about parts of the body in a reflexive context, it’s common to use the definite article instead of a possessive adjective. The context of the reflexive verb already tells you that the hand belongs to the speaker, so la mano is used instead of mi mano.

What is the tense of the verb corté, and what does it tell us?

The verb corté is in the preterite tense, which is used to describe actions that were completed in the past. This indicates that the act of cutting happened at a specific moment in the past.

How does the placement of en la cocina contribute to the sentence?

The phrase en la cocina serves as an adverbial phrase of place, telling us where the action occurred. Its position at the end of the sentence is typical in Spanish, and it provides additional context by specifying that the accident happened in the kitchen.

Could the sentence be rearranged, for example to En la cocina, me corté la mano? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, rearranging the sentence to En la cocina, me corté la mano is perfectly acceptable in Spanish. While the meaning remains the same, placing en la cocina at the beginning can emphasize the location of the action. The flexibility in word order is common in Spanish for stylistic or emphatic reasons.