Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Si se me rompe el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.

se goes with the verb romperse
- romper = to break (something)
- romperse = to break (on its own) / to get broken
- el móvil se rompe = the phone breaks
me is an indirect object pronoun meaning to me / on me
- se me rompe el móvil literally: the phone breaks on me

So se is tied to el móvil (the thing that breaks), and me refers to the person who is affected by that event.

The structure se + indirect object pronoun + verb is very common in Spanish to talk about accidental or unwanted events:

Se me ha roto el vaso. – My glass has (accidentally) broken.
Se le olvidó la llave. – He/She forgot the key. (literally the key forgot itself on him/her)

Why say Si se me rompe el móvil instead of Si mi móvil se rompe?

Both are grammatically correct, but they don’t feel quite the same.

Si mi móvil se rompe...
- Neutral: If my phone breaks…
- Just states the fact that the phone belongs to you and might break.
Si se me rompe el móvil...
- Adds a personal, emotional nuance: If my phone breaks on me…
- Emphasises that this is something that happens to you, often with a nuance of bad luck, annoyance, or inconvenience.

In everyday speech, especially in Spain, se me rompe is more natural in this context because you’re talking about your reaction to an unwanted event that affects you.

Why is it el móvil and not mi móvil if it’s my phone?

Spanish often uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) instead of a possessive (mi, tu, su…) when possession is already clear from a pronoun.

In se me rompe el móvil:

me already shows that the affected person is me.
So el móvil is understood as my phone; repeating mi is normally unnecessary.

You could say:

Si se me rompe mi móvil...

but it sounds redundant and is usually only used for contrast, e.g.:

Si se me rompe mi móvil, no pasa nada; pero si se me rompe el de la empresa, es un problema.
If my personal phone breaks, it’s no big deal; but if the company phone breaks, that’s a problem.

Why is rompe in the present tense if we’re talking about something that might happen in the future?

In Spanish real “if” clauses (conditions that are possible or likely) use the present indicative in the si clause, even if you’re talking about the future:

Si se me rompe el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.
= If my phone breaks, I get very nervous / I’ll get very nervous.

Other examples:

Si llueve mañana, no salgo. – If it rains tomorrow, I won’t go out.
Si vienes esta tarde, te enseño las fotos. – If you come this afternoon, I’ll show you the photos.

So Spanish uses the present where English often uses a future idea. Context tells you whether it’s general/habitual or future.

Can I say Si se me romperá el móvil with future tense?

No, not with that meaning.

For conditional “if” sentences, Spanish does not use the future tense in the si clause:

✅ Si se me rompe el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.
❌ Si se me romperá el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso. (ungrammatical in this sense)

However, you can use future with si when si means whether, not if (on condition that):

No sé si se me romperá el móvil.
I don’t know whether my phone will break.

Here si = whether, and future is fine.

Why is it me pongo muy nervioso and not estoy muy nervioso or soy muy nervioso?

Because ponerse + adjective expresses a change of state: to become / to get.

me pongo muy nervioso = I get very nervous / I become very nervous

Compare:

Soy muy nervioso.
- I am (by nature) very nervous / an anxious person. (permanent trait)
Estoy muy nervioso.
- I am very nervous (right now). (current state)
Me pongo muy nervioso.
- I get very nervous (when X happens). (transition into that state)

In this sentence, you’re describing what happens as a reaction to the phone breaking, so ponerse is the most natural choice.

Why is poner reflexive here (me pongo) instead of just pongo?

Poner and ponerse are different verbs:

poner (non‑reflexive) = to put, to place, to set
- Pongo el móvil en la mesa. – I put the phone on the table.
ponerse (reflexive) = to become / to put on oneself
- Me pongo muy nervioso. – I get/became very nervous.
- Me pongo la chaqueta. – I put my jacket on.

When the meaning is to become + adjective (especially for moods and physical states), Spanish uses ponerse + adjective, always with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, etc.).

Why is it muy nervioso and not mucho nervioso?

Because muy and mucho are used differently:

muy modifies adjectives and adverbs
- muy nervioso – very nervous
- muy rápido – very fast
mucho modifies nouns (or is used as an adverb with verbs)
- mucho nerviosismo – a lot of nervousness
- trabaja mucho – he/she works a lot

So:

✅ muy nervioso – correct
❌ mucho nervioso – incorrect

Also, nervioso must agree with the subject (yo, masculine here). If the speaker were female, it would be nerviosa.

If the speaker is a woman, how would the sentence change?

Only the adjective changes to agree in gender:

Si se me rompe el móvil, me pongo muy nerviosa.

Everything else (se me rompe, me pongo, el móvil) stays exactly the same. Agreement is between the adjective (nervioso/nerviosa) and the subject (yo).

Why use romperse instead of romper here?

The choice changes the meaning:

romper = to break something (someone does it)
- Si rompo el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.
  If I break the phone (I’m the one who causes it), I get very nervous.
romperse = to get broken / to break on its own (no explicit agent)
- Si se me rompe el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.
  If my phone breaks (on me), I get very nervous.
  → suggests an accident or something that just happens.

So romperse focuses on the phone getting broken (often unintentionally), while romper focuses on who breaks it.

Can I say Si se me ha roto el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso instead?

You can, but the meaning shifts slightly:

Si se me rompe el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.
- General or future: If my phone breaks (whenever/when that happens), I get very nervous.
Si se me ha roto el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.
- Refers to a completed event in the (recent) past:
  If my phone has broken, I get/ I’m getting very nervous.

The original sentence sounds more like a general reaction or a future possibility. With se me ha roto, you’re talking about something that may already have happened.

Could we use the subjunctive and say Si se me rompa el móvil?

No. After si meaning if (introducing a condition), Spanish does not use the present subjunctive this way.

For conditions:

Real/likely:
- Si se me rompe el móvil, me pongo muy nervioso.
Less likely or hypothetical (contrary to fact):
- Si se me rompiera el móvil, me pondría muy nervioso.
  If my phone (were to) break, I would get very nervous.

So:

❌ Si se me rompa el móvil – incorrect
✅ Si se me rompe el móvil – real/possible condition
✅ Si se me rompiera el móvil – hypothetical/less likely condition