Log inSign up

Se nos rompió el auto en el camino.

Se nos rompió el auto en el camino.
Our car broke down on the road.
From Lesson 174:Accidental events (se me rompió)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of Se nos rompió el auto en el camino.

en
in / on / at
romper
to break
el camino
the path
el auto
the car (= el carro)

Questions & Answers about Se nos rompió el auto en el camino.

Why do we use se nos rompió here instead of just saying we broke the car?
This is the accidental se construction. If you said rompimos el auto, it would sound like you intentionally smashed your car on purpose! By saying se nos rompió (literally, the car broke itself to us), you show that the breakdown was an accident or an unfortunate event outside of your control.
Why is the verb rompió in the singular "it" form when the pronoun is nos (us)?
In the accidental se structure, the item involved is the actual grammatical subject. The verb rompió is singular to match el auto (the car). The pronoun nos is an indirect object pronoun that just tells us who was affected by the car breaking. If two cars had broken down, the verb would change to match them: se nos rompieron los autos.
The English translation says "our car", but the Spanish says el auto. Where is the "our"?
The ownership is already implied by the pronoun nos. In Spanish, when a pronoun already shows who is affected by an action, you usually use the definite article (el, la, etc.) instead of a possessive word like nuestro. Saying se nos rompió nuestro auto would sound slightly repetitive to a native speaker.
I learned that romper means to physically break (like a glass). Is it normal to use it for a car breaking down?
Yes! You can use romperse for machines, devices, or vehicles that stop working, just like you would for a physical object snapping in half. While you will also frequently hear the verb descomponerse for machines breaking down in Latin America, se nos rompió el auto is very natural and commonly used.
Does en el camino mean "on the road" or "on the way"?
It can actually mean both, depending on the context! Here, it translates perfectly to "on the road" (referring to the physical road where the car broke down), but it is also the standard phrase for "on the way" (for example: estoy en el camino, meaning "I am on the way").

Learn Se nos rompió el auto en el camino and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →