Breakdown of A travessa escorregou e partiu-se-me em cacos.
e
and
em
in / on / at
me
me
se
himself / herself / themselves
partir
to break
escorregar
to slip
a travessa
the platter
o caco
the shard
Questions & Answers about A travessa escorregou e partiu-se-me em cacos.
What exactly does partiu-se-me mean and why are there two pronouns?
This is the accidental reflexive structure. Instead of saying eu parti (I broke it), which sounds like you did it on purpose, Portuguese uses the reflexive partiu-se (it broke) plus the indirect object pronoun me (to me / on me) to show it happened by accident. It translates literally to something like 'it broke itself on me'.
Why is the pronoun order -se-me and not -me-se?
When combining pronouns after a verb in European Portuguese, the third-person reflexive pronoun se always comes before the indirect object pronoun (like me, te, or lhe). Therefore, it must be partiu-se-me.
Could I leave out the -me and just say partiu-se?
Yes, you can say A travessa escorregou e partiu-se (The platter slipped and broke). However, adding the -me shows that you were the one holding it or that you were directly affected by the accident. Leaving it out just states the objective fact that the platter broke.
Is em cacos the standard way to say something broke into pieces?
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