Breakdown of Se me olvidó comprar la crema hidratante, pero tengo el gel absorbente.
pero
but
tener
to have
comprar
to buy
me
to me / me (direct object)
olvidar
to forget
la crema
the cream
se
(marker of an accidental/unintentional event)
el gel
the hair gel
hidratante
moisturizing
absorbente
absorbent
Questions & Answers about Se me olvidó comprar la crema hidratante, pero tengo el gel absorbente.
How are the adjectives hidratante and absorbente formed in this sentence?
They are created from the verbs hidratar (to moisturize) and absorber (to absorb). To form these active adjectives that describe a noun doing the action, you drop the infinitive ending and add -ante for -ar verbs, or -ente for -er and -ir verbs.
Since crema is feminine and gel is masculine, shouldn't hidratante and absorbente change their endings to match?
Why does the sentence use Se me olvidó instead of just saying Olvidé?
While both mean you forgot, se me olvidó uses the accidental se construction. This structure shifts the blame away from the speaker, framing the event as a slip of the mind that just happened to you rather than a deliberate action. It is the most natural and common way to talk about accidentally forgetting something in Latin American Spanish.
In Se me olvidó, why is the verb conjugated as olvidó (third-person singular) when I am the one who forgot?
In this accidental se structure, the grammatical subject isn't the person, but rather the thing forgotten! Here, the subject is the infinitive verb comprar (to buy). Because infinitives act as singular subjects, the verb is conjugated as olvidó (it forgot itself). The pronoun me just indicates who was affected by the slip-up.
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