Word
Se dice que la burocracia aquí es agobiante.
Meaning
It is said that the bureaucracy here is exhausting.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Se dice que la burocracia aquí es agobiante.
ser
to be
aquí
here
que
that / than
decir
to say, to tell
Questions & Answers about Se dice que la burocracia aquí es agobiante.
Why is it se dice instead of just dicen?
Both are perfectly valid ways to express "it is said" or "they say." Using the impersonal se in se dice sounds slightly more general and formal, focusing purely on the statement itself. Dicen (the anonymous "they" form) is very common in casual, everyday conversation.
How could I apply this lesson's topic to say "just any bureaucracy"?
You would use the indefinite article and place cualquiera immediately after the noun: una burocracia cualquiera. For example, you could say, No es una burocracia cualquiera, es la peor (It's not just any bureaucracy, it's the worst). Placing cualquiera after the noun gives it that dismissive "run-of-the-mill" or "insignificant" meaning.
Why do we use es instead of está for agobiante? Isn't being exhausted a temporary state?
How is the word agobiante formed?