Breakdown of Al intentar abrir la chaqueta, se le rompió el cierre.
la chaqueta
jacket
abrir
to open
le
to him / to her / to you (formal)
romper
to break
Questions & Answers about Al intentar abrir la chaqueta, se le rompió el cierre.
Why do we need both se and le in se le rompió?
This sentence uses the accidental se structure to show that an action was unintentional. Se rompió alone just means it broke. By adding the indirect object pronoun le, we specify who this accident happened to. It acts a bit like saying the zipper broke on him.
In se le rompió, what is the actual subject of the verb?
Why does the Spanish use el cierre (the zipper) instead of su cierre (his zipper)?
In Spanish, you generally use definite articles (el, la, etc.) instead of possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su) for clothing and body parts when the owner is already obvious. Here, the pronoun le already tells us the accident happened to him, so el cierre sounds much more natural than su cierre.
What is the grammar behind al intentar meaning "upon trying"?