16
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How does "Te vas a cansar" mean "You're going to get tired"?
Te vas a cansar or, alternatively, Vas a cansarte, illustrates two grammatical concepts:
Pronominal verbs, like cansarse, which means "to get tired, to become tired"; contrast this with plain cansar ...
- 39.2k
14
votes
"Voy a dormir" vs "me voy a dormir" - huge difference or not?
If you check the ir verb in the dictionary, you will see that there is one fundamental meaning as a pronominal verb:
Moverse de un lugar hacia otro apartado de la persona que habla.
That is, "...
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14
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"No se hable más" - Why the "se"?
That's an interesting usage of se. The verb hablar (as many others) can be used in an impersonal way if you don't want to specify who is talking about something or you just simply don't know who is ...
- 77.2k
11
votes
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What's the difference between "Va a un bar" and "Se va a un bar"?
Compare the definitions of ir ("to go") and irse ("to leave").
In the first sentence you provided, Va a un bar, "va" is a conjugated (3rd person singular, present) form of the verb ir and the ...
- 646
10
votes
How come I can't find some reflexive verbs like decirse, odiarse and mentirse in the dictionary?
In the "official" Diccionario de la Lengua Española (DLE), pronominal versions of verbs (i.e., meanings of the verb that require the use of me, te, se, etc.), are marked with the ...
wimi♦
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8
votes
Is it true that the reflexive of "regresar" -- "regresarse" -- is not used in Spain?
I agree with Guifa. From my own experience (center of Spain), your dictionary is right in saying "regresarse" isn't used in Spain.
RAE seems to agree:
regresar
2. intr. Volver al lugar de donde ...
- 6,218
8
votes
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Why is "yo me quedo en casa" instead of "yo quedo en casa"?
"Quedar" is an intransitive verb, which can also be use as pronominal (quedar(se)).
This pronominal use means roughly that their subjects are acting upon themselves (I do this action upon myself).
...
- 47.9k
8
votes
Why, in "mis padres se llaman __", do you need "se"?
Yo me llamo Diego. Mis padres (ellos) se llaman __ y __
Se is just the third person pronoun, like me is the first person pronoun.
I don't know what is your mother tongue, but since you seem fluent ...
- 47.9k
8
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¿Cuál es la diferencia entre enfrentar y enfrentarse?
Como se ve en la respuesta de Diego, las dos formas del verbo (simple y pronominal) son equivalentes según el diccionario.
Sin embargo, a nivel pragmático (o sea, en el uso real) puede haber ...
- 39.2k
8
votes
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Olvidar vs Olvidarse
Short answer: no, it's not wrong to say olvidar without se. There's a mistake in your first example, but it's not that. Keep reading.
There are a lot of answers to this question already in this site, ...
- 39.2k
8
votes
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If "gustarse" does not exist in the Spanish language, why has "me gusto" for "I like myself" made it into the language?
You will not find gustarse in the DLE because verbs in the DLE are almost always cited using their basic infinitive form. When the verb admits a pronominal usage, if this usage has a different meaning,...
- 39.2k
7
votes
"Voy a dormir" vs "me voy a dormir" - huge difference or not?
Besides the difference between irse a as expression of movement and ir a as a periphrastic future tense, there's another nuance that I discussed a bit in this question about reír as a pronominal verb.
...
- 39.2k
7
votes
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Is it true that the reflexive of "regresar" -- "regresarse" -- is not used in Spain?
regresarse I don't think I've ever heard in Spain. But in any case, in Spain, volver is heavily favored over regresar (that's not to say regresar isn't used, because it is, just less often).
One ...
- 29.9k
6
votes
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¿Cómo te vas?, ¿Cómo te va?, ¿Cómo se va?
¿Cómo vas?
Exactly the thing you say.
Example:
A- Me voy a Colombia
B- ¿Cómo vas?
A- En avión
¿Cómo te va?/¿Cómo va?
You're also on a good trend here. However, it's way more general. I would ...
- 768
6
votes
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when se is needed for transitive verbs?
There are two questions here: how to use "se" and how to use personal pronouns. "Se" can sometimes be a personal pronoun (as in "la mujer se mira en el espejo") or just a ...
- 6,218
6
votes
¿Se dice "La tierra 'sentía' o 'se sentía' húmeda y fría"?
Existen dos formas correctas. Usar la voz activa o la voz pasiva:
Si el personaje dice:
(Yo) Sentía la tierra fría y húmeda.
En este caso la persona que lo dice utiliza la voz activa. Voz ...
- 1,084
6
votes
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Why use "le" in "se le oyo"?
You're so close. It actually means "from him/her", but it is not empahisis, because it is not repeating any information, but adding it for the first time.
If you said
Se oyó un comentario
That ...
- 4,814
6
votes
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Using gustar in future tense
The verb "gustar" is not reflexive, unless your self-esteem leads you to say something like: Me gusto (I like myself).
The pronoun that accompanies the verb "gustar" is the ...
- 28.3k
5
votes
Accepted
What exactly are the "passive se" and "impersonal se"?
First of all, the formerly named reflexive verbs are denominated now as pronominal verbs. About pronominal verbs, you can read this answer of mine. You are interested in the role played by the word se:...
- 2,244
5
votes
Reflexives and use of "se" in "terminarse"
Carlos Alejo is right, but I wanted to add a few grammatical explanations.
The verb terminar can be intransitive ("to finish"), or transitive ("to finish off sth", "to terminate sth"). The verb ...
- 6,218
5
votes
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Why does "reírse" always have reflexive?
First things first:
Yes, reír can be used without the "reflexive";
No, reír cannot be used transitively.
Now on to the details:
The use of the (formally reflexive) pronouns with verbs like reír or ...
- 39.2k
5
votes
Why, in "mis padres se llaman __", do you need "se"?
It's an important question and a good question. Here's one use of llamar:
At 8:00, I call my cat to come in and eat.
A las 8:00, yo llamo a mi gato a venir a comer.
Here's another:
Sometimes I ...
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5
votes
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¿Significan lo mismo "sí mismo" y "uno mismo"?
Según la RAE, no es incorrecto pero sí desaconsejable el uso del "sí" impersonal o genérico:
No es recomendable emplear el reflexivo sí en oraciones impersonales con referente inespecífico o ...
- 28.3k
5
votes
How do you specify/emphasize gender with third person reflexive verbs?
El pronombre reflexivo (en cualquier persona y número) carece de género (a diferencia de los que ocurre con alguna de las personas en los pronombres personales o posesivos). De hecho la partícula se ...
- 47.9k
5
votes
Why is " me" used in "Se me descompuso el auto"?
Me indicates whose car broke down.
Se me descompuso el carro. My car broke down
Se te descompuso el carro. Your car broke down
Se le descompuso el carro. His/her car..
Se les... .Their car..
Se ...
- 425
5
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Understanding why a pronoun and "que se" are used in a sentence
I'll answer your three questions, one by one:
le is just a duplication of the indirect complement, al jefe del banco. It is not strictly necessary, but in Spanish this duplication is very usual.
This ...
- 10k
5
votes
How does "Te vas a cansar" mean "You're going to get tired"?
It's because the verb cansarse means "to get/become tired." The te is a part of cansarse and not a part of irse. Context tells you which verb the te corresponds to.
Equivalently, you could say Vas a ...
- 503
5
votes
How to use “les” in examples like this?
This is a case of an indirect object that appears twice in the sentence: once as a noun and once as a pronoun. In the example:
A los españoles les llevó años reconquistar la península ibérica
It ...
wimi♦
- 11.6k
4
votes
"Voy a dormir" vs "me voy a dormir" - huge difference or not?
"Me voy a dormir" and "Voy a dormir" mean the same thing, and the two sentences are commonly used. I'm from Spain and my native language is Spanish.
Grammatically they are the same, but the second ...
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votes
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Infinitive of an -se verb
Yes.
"Es mejor tener calma que preocuparse" is a general statement. The subject, preocuparse, is impersonal (not referring to any surviving person) and if we used nos instead, we'd be specifying ...
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