Why does this (native) Spanish speaker used "se" in this sentence: "no se me ocurre ninguna frase en español para expresar lo mismo"?
Gracias!
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Sign up to join this communityWhy does this (native) Spanish speaker used "se" in this sentence: "no se me ocurre ninguna frase en español para expresar lo mismo"?
Gracias!
The sixth definition given in the DLE for ocurrir is
- prnl. Dicho de una idea: Venirse a la mente de repente y sin esperarla. Era u. t. c. intr.
So as a pronominal verb it means: of an idea, to come suddenly and unexpectedly to mind. If you are an English speaker you may have been taught these as reflexive but Spanish distinguishes various uses of se with a verb.
You might like to look also at questions and answers on this site tagged verbo-pronominal
In answer to a further question posed by the OP in a comment perhaps I should have stated that in this use ocurrir is only used in the third person. In this case ocurre is third person. As a piece of geneal advice I suggest that trying to translate all the component parts of pronominal verbs is a recipe for confusion. You just have to accept that they work the way they do, not spend time wondering from the sign on a house Se vende how it is that Spanish houses are clever enough to sell themselves.