Understand this confusing use of "SE" in 5 min

Se me fue la mano, se me olvidó, se me antoja - what is the "se" doing in phrases like these?
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[@BreakthroughSpanish]

There's a typo in the first fill-in-the-blank question at 4:37. It should be "duerme y toma agua y [to you] pasará el dolor de cabeza", where the answer is "se te" . Thanks for watching!

[@gbizzle201]

Ohhh ok i was so confused ty! sub+like, ill be using your videos to help me learn.

[@zachfenton608]

Porqué no dijiste en español

[@prins1991]

Great video! It's also worth mentioning that "se me/te/le..." construction also implies that the action is unintentional or you don't have control over it. Example: "tienes que olvidar el pasado" implies that you have to deliberately forget about the past, that you should stop thinking about it, while "se me olvidó tu cumpleaños" implies that I didn't mean my forgetting of your birthday, it's not my intention, probably because I was too busy, etc.

[@joaquinfernandez3347]

Thank you very much for the video. I'm native Spanish speaker and I think the word "se" must be one of the most difficult things to learn in Spanish

[@onlyoneamong300]

Nice explanation! However, I'd like to add a bit more for the sake of simplicity! There are two types of verbs in Spanish: 1_The infinitive verbs ending in -AR, -ER, -IR. Examples: amar = to love, comer = to eat, sentir = to feel. 2_The reflexive (pronominal) verbs ending in -SE. Examples: Caerse = to fall down, Levantarse = to get up, Sentarse = to sit down. As you can see the -SE particle is, in many cases, equivalent to two-word verbs in English! Now, when reflexive verbs (ending in -SE) are conjugated, the SE particle moves between the subject and the root verb. Examples in past tense to make it easier: _Caerse (to fall down): Dino se cayó = Dean fell down. _Levantarse (to get up): Luis se levantó = Louis got up. _Sentarse (to sit down): Nilo se sentó = Neil sat down. And so on! I hope that helped! 😃

[@cosnyaxtros1821]

Que valor teneis para estudiar español. Enhorabuena. Soy español y profesor y es verdad hay cuestiones que resultan complicadas, y no solo la pronunciación. Sigan así. Se os hará más fácil el practicarlo.

[@solascriptura-e7t]

¡Tu eres oro, profesor! ¡Nuevo suscriptor!

[@truestory923]

5 minutes and I'm MORE CONFUSED !!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Here’s another video I made on this general topic from a while back - it explains it in a slightly different way and might make more sense: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJjFqWWsjKyJoLM

[@pangeaproxima3681]

lmao!

[@Mil-w6d]

Omg. I found this so confusing too and I have been doing Spanish for years. So demoralising 😢

[@joaquinfernandez3347]

SE confundió

[@matthias4037]

​@@Mil-w6dI think it's better if you learn the structure se + (me, te le etc.) + the third conjuction of a verb in singular or in plural to express, that you did something without the intention to do so. Se me olvidó la tarea (I forget my homework but it wasn't my intention). Se me cayeron mis llaves (My keys dropped, see here we need the plural form of the verb). Se me quemó la mano (I burned my hand). Se te olvidó mi cumple(años)? Did you forget my birthday? So first learn that as to express something happened without intent or you want to express an excuse. Se me quedó mi tarea a casa (I left my homework at home, but it wasn't really my fault). The OP expresses that from a perspective of a native speaker and also explains more advance stuff like occurirsele (that's the infinitive), where the meaning is not really doing something without intention, it's just a reflexive verb that also requires a indirect object pronoun (me, te, le). I'm not gonna lie, verbs like gustar are still not easy for me, because the structure is very foreign. It basically makes you the indirect object in the sentence instead of being the subject. "Me gustan las películas" literally mean the movies are pleasing to me, and the movies are the subject while only the me part (indirect object pronoun) refers to you. There are a lot of verbs that behave like gustar in spanish, there are also verbs that work either like a regular verb but can also function like a so called le verb. For example Dar. Te di mi número ayer. (I gave you my number yesterday). Or da + noun to express emotion (here it's used like gustar). A ella le da cólera cuando él no respeta su opinión. (She gets angry when he doesn’t respect her opinion). I hope this helps and doesn't confuse you more. From a fellow learner like you.

[@CeCeTheAmputee]

Thanks for this! Do you think in future videos you can keep the example sentence visible while going through the explanation? Thanks again! This was helpful!

[@growthwise1358]

Absolutely love your videos. They've jumped into my mandatory daily study routine. Well done! And thank you

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Thank you! Glad you like them

[@everythingtorah]

¡Muchas gracias por la lección de gramática sobre la palabra "se" maestro!

[@cellgrrl]

After decades of listening to Spanish (teaching myself) this is the first time I may have cracked the barrier to understanding this! I have more work to do, it is probably the most foreign notion in Spanish to the English speaker.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Glad it helped!

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

@@BreakthroughSpanish There seems to be many native speakers here with comments. I hope they can help us as well. You are doing great, it is just since they are here, maybe they can give us some helpful tips and examples. 😊❤

[@Silvi-a]

Love it. So similar to German! "Mir schlafen die Füße ein" or "Mir tut der Kopf weh" 😎

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

True!

[@TonyLouis9345]

Thanks. Very clear and understandable.

[@crazylittlepartytifs]

This is excellent thanks!

[@MB-nx9tq]

I always translate this construction in my head as the passive + on me/you etc. The on construction is not as common in English but it does give the same nuances of meaning to the sentence as the Spanish, both showing the effected person and that it was not caused by said person. Se me pegó = it was stuck on me. Se me durmió el pie = the leg fell asleep on me.

[@berengerberenger6234]

don't forget this other case: dale el regalo! daselo!

[@lucalu459]

Me alegro de ser hablante nativo del español y no tener q aprender esta pesadilla de idioma (el chino y el árabe me parecen más fáciles y soy fluido en los dos)

[@Nicole-zj1ng]

I learned it by learning that you never want to take blame for anything happening or blame anyone else - Spanish almost always blames the object. In English we generally take responsibility. I dropped the vase vs the vase (caused itself) to fall. My head hurts vs me duele la cabeza (the head is hurting me) it’s not even your head jaja

[@anitaramani5046]

I recently stumbled on your channel while searching for the right way to use different forms of haber. I really like your content. Is there a chronological manner to go through the videos?

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Glad you’re finding them helpful! My videos here aren’t chronological, but you can search the channel for whatever you’re working on to see if I have a video on it

[@KevinJonasx11]

useful explanation! concise

[@wingsofflow4041]

Thanks for this and more! I thought your website was focussed on pronunciation - I need a bigger vocabulary to venture into it - but do you also go into things like this on your site?

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

I have a newsletter where I share lots of tips, but I don't often go too deep into grammar. In a recent newsletter I did write about direct/indirect objects, which you can read here: breakthroughspanish.com/direct-indirect-object-pronouns I am planning a lower intermediate/B1 course which will cover things like this in more depth, but for now my focus is on the pronunciation course and a new speaking challenge that I have. You can check those out on my website: breakthroughspanish.com/

[@bruceerwin5430]

Se me occurió It occurred to me.

[@pickedupapencil]

This sounds like the Passive Voice in spanish....

[@orlandoacontreras]

Saludos de Venezuela.

[@Duality113]

Yo que soy hispano hablante nativo me gusta la perspectiva que tienes del idioma español. Interesante

[@philsmith7398]

Aaah! Got it! Cheers mate

[@rantsfromthesofa4653]

A great trick for remembering the order is RID reflexive indirect object direct object.

[@fergusdenton2517]

Thanks for this clear explanation. One question though; what's the grammatical name for this type of se? I'd like to look it up further. Cheers

[@fabe61]

Another banging video with more excellent contributions in the comments :)

[@Swaggletail]

"La comida se va a enfriar" seems sufficient. I will never achieve the proficiency to see the need to add that "te." Seems like trying to do too much with one syllable.

[@srbaruchi]

I agree that "se va a enfriar" is perfectly acceptable, but the "te" emphasizes that it's getting cold "on you."

[@Patrick-f9d6u]

El primero ejemplo en los ejercicios (se?) me confunda. Creo que las palabras entre parentesis [ ] deberia ser 'to you', en lugar de 'to me', verdad? O tal vez, no intiendo? Sleep and drink some water and your headache will pass (or go away); i.e you'll get over it. Y la repuesta es 'se te pasara', no 'se me'. Por favor aclarar. Gracias.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Si, tienes razón! Es un error de tecleo. Debería ser "to you": "duerme y toma agua y [to you] pasará el dolor de cabeza", y la respuesta es "se te"

[@michaelkucinski4021]

I still find it confusing.

[@christiankreps5920]

One thing I don't understand, the "me" in the first example is sort of an indirect object, ("the feet hurt to me") so why is it not "me se duermen..."?

[@spider2666]

The reflexive pronoun always comes before the IOP, and then the DOP: Reflexive > Indirect > Direct Or RID

[@kcorpora1]

You don't need the (me) if you say: los pies se duermen cuando me siento con las piernas cruzadas (or) se duermen los pies cuando me siento con las piernas cruzadas.

[@cpol4391]

I always learned it as the “accidental” se. Me segue La césped- I cut the grass. There is nothing accidental about Se te olvidó desmaquilllarte- you forgot to take off your makeup This is accidental

[@carolmoseley4847]

Muchas gracias, la palabra se, me cause mucha confusión. No sé si la frase que va a continuación cabe en la misma categoria gramatical: Ella exige que se le pague una compensación por daños

[@Diego.M.M]

Es correcto

[@kennethschwartz898]

el micrófono de la chica se escucha como. What is the purpose of the SE... is it part of escucharse?

[@seestonebat]

Great video. It's super helpful. I often get this structure confused with the indirect object + direct object (e.g. me lo da), and this clarified things for me. There's a usability issue with the video, though. You've placed the exercises in the center of the screen where they are obscured by the play/pause button when paid. If you move them up or down a little they will not be obscured when people pause the video to think about the answer.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll keep that in mind on the next video. Glad you found this one helpful otherwise

[@galloitaliano27VEVO]

Qué pesadilla de idioma, me dio migraña solo de pensar en las dificultades que tiene. Doy gracias a Dios de haberlo aprendido en mi niñez. Hay quienes aseguran que es el idioma mas difícil del mundo, será cierto?

[@Maqueronte524]

"se me hace bola" esta expricacion ji, ji

[@Coachat]

03:12 isn’t this video suppose to explain Se but but it is brushed away

[@blakespivey8621]

For 4:04 “Se Me Olvida” I don’t understand why “se” is their still why can’t you just say : me olvide

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

These two are essentially the same: Se me olvidó comprar pan Me olvidé de comprar pan. Here's a useful explanation: www.italki.com/es/post/question-367292

[@michaelaward3682]

They're reflexive verbs

[@SH-lv7pd]

Super confusing.

[@bhavanat2429]

In 1st example at 0:51, the object given in english is “to me”. But the answer is “Se te”. Should the object be “to you”?

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

There's no example at 0:51, but if you mean the first "fill in the blank" question starting at 4:37, yes, that was a typo on my part. It should be "duerme y toma agua y [to you] pasará el dolor de cabeza", where the answer is "se te" . Sorry for the confusion!

[@cacogenicist]

Seems many "reflexive" constructions in Spanish aren't actually semantically reflexive.

[@Nookoni8724]

The English language is proven to be more difficult to learn, due to the pronunciations and the use of certain words and silenced vowels. Words like ISLAND or AISLE and PSYCHOLOGY etc.

[@thinkingdotdotdot3288]

⁠​⁠@@Nookoni8724 I think they have equal difficulty. Writing and pronunciation might be difficult in English, but English doesn’t have gendered words, accents, formal and informal, or “100” different ways to say 1 word (i.e straw: popote, sorbete, absorbente, pajita, pajilla, etc) but that doesn’t matter all that much if you focus on one Spanish speaking country to learn from. Also Spanish uses slang A LOT and it changes depending on what country you’re learning from (take a listen to café tacvuba chilanga banda a song full of Mexican slang particularly from Mexico City) then we shorten words a lot donde estas? becomes ontas?, señora becomes ñora, que hubo becomes quiubo etc. Anyways im mainly speaking on “Mexican” Spanish as that’s what I’m familiar with but if other Spanish speakers from other countries chimed in there would be more.

[@Nookoni8724]

@@thinkingdotdotdot3288 Technically, The American English, Canadian English and Australian English are different accents. American and Canadian English accents sounds very similar due to the British colonies that migrated from the east coast of the USA to the now Ontario area. English, depending on which country uses different slangs, too. Have you ever heard the word DUDE? That word has been changed from it's original form DOODLE, so has other words used for slangs that originally meant for other meanings. The English language doesn't have those gendered words, but there is a difference between WAITERS and WAITRESSES.

[@Nookoni8724]

@@thinkingdotdotdot3288 Don't worry, English is pretty difficult too when it's not a language you're raised around. It's only a native language to ENGLAND and not anywhere else, just dominant in other countries. DEER/DEAR FLOUR/FLOWER POUR/POOR HAIR/HARE ATE/EIGHT READ/RED REEL/REAL PHOENIX, KNOXVILLE

[@thinkingdotdotdot3288]

⁠@@Nookoni8724 that was on me I meant accent marks, of course English has different accents even in the USA depending on where you’re from you’ll have a different accent, and so does Mexico someone from Yucatán sounds way different than someone from Durango. Now with accent marks you have to make sure if you want to talk about your father you write papá and not papa etc. Waitress and waiter, actor and actress, king and queen etc sure such words exist in English but not like Spanish because Coke is feminine but sprite is masculine, food is feminine but hunger is masculine, whereas in English these would all just be “the” if anything. A lot of words in Spanish are either masculine/feminine. We also have homophones, I think most languages do. Haya, halla, allá Callo, callo, cayó, cayo Cabe, cave hierba, hierva Grabe, grave Por que, porque Haber, a ver Asta, hasta Most things that can probably be said about English can be said about Spanish and vice versa which is why I think they have similar difficulty.

[@berthagranados5772]

Come ya, SINO la comida se te va a enfriar.

[@catboy721]

New video and I love the explanations but you often leave your wordcards up for a quick flash and then they’re gone while you explain what you showed. Please consider leaving them on screen while you explain them. It helps to see what you’re trying to teach. Thanks.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

thanks for the suggestion! I agree. Leaving them on for longer in future videos 👍

[@amanifawaz4787]

se me duermen los pies cuando me estoy sentando por mucho tiempo se me ocurrío que español es diferente al ingles escribe un poco y habla con sus amigos y se te va a pasar en un ratito

[@gwine9087]

Just one of the reasons that I gave up on Spanish.

[@onlyoneamong300]

Too bad! You probably gave up too easy after a couple of courses, like many people do! A language can't be learned overnight! It took me 6 months to learn standard, college English cause I applied myself! But it took me several years to get all the two-word verbs, all the crazy slang, the regional accents, the technical terms, the medical terms, the legal terms, the college students slang, etc, etc, etc! If you're not too old, maybe you can start again! You just need to study harder and memorize as much as you can, just like millions do to learn English! Also, the way the world's going and changing, you may need to immigrate to a Spanish speaking country in the near future!

[@greengator3575]

Still doesn’t make sense from this explanation

[@XpMinds]

Think of it as things that happen to you or things that like give up or do something on you if that makes sense

[@MrDayna39]

confusing to an English speaker, Spanish is just as contradictory to learn and translate as Portuguese from my experience.

[@timtrottproductions]

can you leave the titles up a little longer?

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Thanks for the feedback, I’ll be sure to do that on the next video like this

[@uese7105]

why say se fue a vivir why not just say fue a vivir

[@Jaujau933]

Bad teaching - I'm more confused than before ! 😱

I'm literally more confused.. hasn’t actually explained anything 🤣

[@madmaxine12]

😳

[@Andrew-ct8fc]

No one will understand you. With the structure. Se is will, restructure your sentence mis pies se durmieron cuando sea

[@michaellafrance6454]

Sorry, that didn't help.

[@MB-nx9tq]

I always translate this construction in my head as the passive + on me/you etc. The on construction is not as common in English but it does give the same nuances of meaning to the sentence as the Spanish, both showing the effected person and that it was not caused by said person. Se me pegó = it was stuck on me. Se me durmió el pie = the leg fell asleep on me.