Things that happen by themselves
When something changes and nobody does it — a door opens, a glass breaks, the power goes out — Spanish puts se before the verb and makes the thing the subject. The verb agrees with it: se rompió el vaso, se rompieron los vasos. English often uses the bare verb (the door opened); with verbs like these, Spanish usually needs the se.
| someone does it | it happens by itself |
|---|
| Luis abrió la puerta. | Se abrió la puerta. |
| He roto el vaso. | El vaso se ha roto. |
| Apagué la luz. | Se apagó la luz. |
The se also takes the blame off you: the glass broke, nobody broke it.
Se goes first
You know se me ha caído from accidents. Whenever se meets another pronoun, se comes first: se me, se te, se le, se nos, se os, se les. Me se is a slip you will hear in casual speech, but it is wrong.
Se lo … a Ana
Le or les before lo, la, los, las becomes se. With a noun object, the le is usual but can be left out: Le di el libro a Ana or Di el libro a Ana. Once the object is a pronoun, the se is practically always there in conversation, even with a Ana at the end.
| noun object | pronoun object |
|---|
| (Le) di el libro a Ana. | Se lo di a Ana. |
| (Le) he devuelto la bici a Luis. | Se la he devuelto a Luis. |
Common mistakes
- El vaso rompió → El vaso se rompió.
- Me se ha caído → Se me ha caído.
- Lo di a Ana → in conversation, Se lo di a Ana.
