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Ayer se me rompió un adorno en la mudanza.

Ayer se me rompió un adorno en la mudanza.
Yesterday I accidentally broke an ornament during the move.
From Lesson 173:Accidental events (se me rompió)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Ayer se me rompió un adorno en la mudanza.

Why use se me rompió instead of just saying yo rompí?
Using yo rompí means "I broke it" and makes it sound intentional, taking direct blame. By using the accidental se construction (se + indirect object pronoun + verb), it translates literally to "an ornament broke on me." This is the natural way in Spanish to show it was an accident and soften the blame.
Why is the verb rompió (he/she/it broke) instead of rompí (I broke)?
In the accidental se construction, the object that gets broken, lost, or forgotten is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. Since un adorno is a singular "it," the verb must be in the third-person singular form (rompió) to match it.
If I accidentally broke two ornaments, how would this sentence change?
Because the ornaments are the grammatical subject of the sentence, the verb must match their quantity. If you broke more than one, you would change the verb to the plural form: Ayer se me rompieron dos adornos en la mudanza.
I know en usually means "in" or "on." Why is it translated as "during" here in en la mudanza?
The preposition en is very flexible in Spanish. When used with an event, a time period, or a process like la mudanza (the move), it naturally translates to "during" or "at" in English.

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