Breakdown of Mi hermano dice que se divorcia de su esposo.
el hermano
the brother
el esposo
the husband
mi
my
su
his/her/its/their/your (formal)
que
that / than
decir
to say, to tell
divorciarse de
to divorce
Questions & Answers about Mi hermano dice que se divorcia de su esposo.
Why is there a de after se divorcia when English just says "divorcing his husband"?
In Spanish, many verbs require a specific preposition to connect to the rest of the sentence. While English says "to divorce someone", Spanish uses the combination divorciarse de (which translates roughly to "to divorce oneself from"). You will always need the de before mentioning the person they are divorcing.
Why do we need the pronoun se here? Couldn't we just say divorcia de?
The verb for "to get divorced" or "to divorce" is divorciarse. In Spanish, verbs that describe a change in your relationship or life status—like getting married (casarse), getting divorced (divorciarse), or getting engaged (comprometerse)—are usually reflexive. The se shows that this is a major life change happening to the brother himself.
The translation says "is divorcing", but divorcia is in the simple present tense. Shouldn't it be se está divorciando?
You can absolutely say se está divorciando (the present progressive) if you want to emphasize the ongoing process. However, Spanish uses the simple present tense (se divorcia) much more often than English does to talk about actions that are currently ongoing or planned for the near future.
Since su can mean his, her, your, or their, how do we know su esposo means "his husband" in this sentence?
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