Breakdown of Il braccialetto è caro, ma se lo compra.
essere
to be
ma
but
caro
expensive, dear
comprare
to buy
Questions & Answers about Il braccialetto è caro, ma se lo compra.
Why does the sentence use se lo instead of si lo?
When the reflexive pronoun si (meaning "for herself" or "for himself") is placed right before a direct object pronoun like lo, la, li, or le, it changes its vowel from 'i' to 'e'. Therefore, si + lo combined becomes se lo.
What exactly do se and lo stand for here?
se is the reflexive pronoun meaning "for herself" (or "for himself"), and lo means "it", referring back to the masculine singular noun il braccialetto.
How do we know the subject is "she" and not "he"?
Without more context, we don't! The third-person reflexive pronoun si (which becomes se here) is exactly the same for masculine, feminine, and even formal "you" subjects. Depending on who we are talking about in a broader conversation, se lo compra could just as easily mean "he buys it for himself."