Breakdown of Se nos estropeó la secadora y la ropa está mojada.
y
and
estar
to be (location/state)
la ropa
the clothes
nos
to us
mojado
wet
se
(marker of an accidental/unintentional event)
la secadora
the dryer
estropear
to ruin (spoil, damage)
Questions & Answers about Se nos estropeó la secadora y la ropa está mojada.
Why is it Se nos estropeó la secadora instead of just Nuestra secadora se estropeó?
Using the accidental se construction (se + indirect object pronoun + verb) emphasizes that the breakdown was completely involuntary or out of your control. Literally, it translates to something like "The dryer broke on us." It takes the blame away from anyone and treats the event as something that just happened to you (nos).
Why is the verb estropeó in the singular when nos (us) is plural?
In the accidental se construction, the verb conjugates to match the thing that is breaking, not the person affected by it. Here, the subject is la secadora, which is a singular noun, so the verb is the third-person singular estropeó. The pronoun nos just tells us who was affected by the broken dryer.
Could I use romper instead of estropear here?
Why do we use está mojada instead of es mojada?
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