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Se nos perdieron las fichas durante el juego.

Se nos perdieron las fichas durante el juego.
We lost the chips during the game.
From Lesson 217:Resulting states (quedarse)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Se nos perdieron las fichas durante el juego.

Why does the sentence use se nos perdieron instead of just saying perdimos?
This uses the accidental se structure to avoid taking direct blame. Instead of saying we lost the chips (perdimos las fichas), it translates literally to 'the chips got lost on us.' It emphasizes that it was an unintentional event or accident rather than a deliberate action.
If 'we' lost the chips, why is the verb perdieron in the 'they' form instead of the 'we' form?
In the accidental se structure, the item that gets lost is the actual grammatical subject. Since las fichas is plural, the verb takes the plural 'they' form perdieron. The pronoun nos simply indicates who was affected by the action (us).
Could I change the pronoun order to nos se perdieron?
No, whenever you use multiple pronouns together in Spanish, se must always come first. The pronoun indicating who is affected, like nos, me, or te, will always directly follow it.
Can I use partido instead of juego for 'game' here?
Not in this context. Juego is used for board games, card games, or playing in general, which makes sense here since fichas means game pieces or chips. Partido is strictly used for sports matches like a soccer or basketball game.

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