Learn Spanish (Latin America): De sobrecalentarse la turbina, cancelaremos la operación. - If the turbine overheats, we will cancel the operation.

Using de followed by an infinitive is an alternative way to form an "if" clause in Spanish. Here, De sobrecalentarse la turbina is a slightly more formal or technical way of saying Si la turbina se sobrecalienta (If the turbine overheats). Both express the exact same condition for the future event.

Why does the subject la turbina come after the verb sobrecalentarse?

In de + infinitive conditional structures, the subject (the person or thing performing the action of the infinitive) almost always goes directly after the verb. Saying De la turbina sobrecalentarse would sound unnatural to a native speaker.

Could I put the reflexive pronoun se before the verb here, like de se sobrecalentar?

No. Because the verb is in its infinitive form (sobrecalentar), any reflexive or object pronouns must be attached directly to the end of it. It is never correct to place the pronoun before the infinitive when it is the main verb of this conditional phrase.

Why do we need the reflexive se at the end of sobrecalentarse?