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What is the grammatical structure of Se te ve tan diferente answered in How do you say "You look so different" in Spanish??

se

Is this:

  1. Passive form "Se + 3rd person present" se ve for a general statement like "se dice"? or
  2. Se is just for emphasis like "se comió todos los platos por el mismo!"? or
  3. Indirect object to mean to someone? or
  4. Something else?

te

Is this part of a reflexive verb verse? If so, "me ve bien" means "I look well" like "va bien" = "I am good"?

But I believe ver is to look something which takes a direct object.

Update

Having found Usage of “ver(se)” for “to seem/look” (te ves, se te ve, te veo, etc.) and se is impersonal to make it general idea, but still not sure about te ve especially te. Is it basically a reflexive verb verse ?

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  • "Te veo/noto diferente" I think if you use "se te ve" it's because more than one person feels the same way.
    – PbxMan
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 10:39
  • @PbxMan, thanks. It seems 'te ve' and 'te veo' are different according to spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/933.
    – mon
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 13:09
  • 1
    Some comments while someone has time to write about grammar. Se ve ="It looks", Se te ve ="You look...(to anyone)" Te ve ="he/she sees you" or "he/she is looking at you" or "he/she can see you". me ve bien ="I look ok to him" or "he can see me well". va bien ="it goes well" (not "I am good" that would be "estoy/voy bien") and finally ver is to look but it is also to see
    – DGaleano
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 16:46

1 Answer 1

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Se is a clitic personal pronoun used in impersonal sentences in Spanish. It also can be used in some kind of passive sentences, called "pasivas reflejas", but it's not the case.
The way to distinguish both of them is kind of tricky, but we know that "Se te ve tan diferente" is an impersonal sentence because we can say the same with "Se ve tan diferente a ti" (although it doesn't sound very well). And as the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) states HERE:

"If the nominal element refers to a person and it's preceded by the 'a' preposition, the impersonal contruction must be used; so, the verb will be in singular form even the nominal element is in plural form.

Te references "you" in that phrase, so it's what we call a "objeto directo de persona" in Spanish (something like "personal direct object").

I hope it helps!

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  • Thanks for the answer. Does "(Tu vestiendote en la ropa) te ve bonita a ti" make sense? If "Te" is direct object, I suppose it is part of a reflexive verb, and "You wearing the cloth" makes an effect of "looking good" against "her = tu", like "me robó el coche"?
    – mon
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 0:53
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    Sorry to disagree. Se te ve tan diferente means "I look at you and I see you so different to your usual looks" and Se ve tan diferente a ti means "someone else looks very different than you" and both sentences sound perfectly fine but meaning different things. (note: the first sentence could also mean "That thing you are wearing looks very different in you than it does on someone else" ) (note 2: I guess many of my English prepositions are wrong. I'm not sure if I should use "to" instead of "than". I hope you could understand what I mean)
    – DGaleano
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 15:57

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