Where do I need to use "verb + se"??
Hi / Hola

I have written entries for a week in a row, and I realized that one of major mistakes I made comes from that I do not understand where to use "verb + se".

For example:
When I wrote "the snow would have gone soon", "la nieve se vaya pronto" is right, and "la nieve habría ido pronto" doesn't make sense.
When I wrote "it (the temperature) will fall to -28C", "se llegará a -28C" is right. (I dropped "se" and somebody added it.)
When I wrote "the electricity lasts until....", "la electricidad se mantenga hasta..." is right, and it's wrong to use "mantendría" only.

I have no clue why I need "se" for each case. I'm ok with bañarse or desperterse though... Your help is always appreciated!

Question

Where do I need to use "verb + se"??
Hi / Hola

I have written entries for a week in a row, and I realized that one of major mistakes I made comes from that I do not understand where to use "verb + se".

For example:
When I wrote "the snow would have gone soon", "la nieve se vaya pronto" is right, and "la nieve habría ido pronto" doesn't make sense.
When I wrote "it (the temperature) will fall to -28C", "se llegará a -28C" is right. (I dropped "se" and somebody added it.)
When I wrote "the electricity lasts until....", "la electricidad se mantenga hasta..." is right, and it's wrong to use "mantendría" only.

I have no clue why I need "se" for each case. I'm ok with bañarse or desperterse though... Your help is always appreciated!

Answer

Ok i can see your problem, I gonna try to make it easy for you. You must use "se" first when you're using the conditional perfect with an object! Ex: "the snow (it) would have gone soon"= La nieve se(bc it's a IT) habría ido pronto. If i said: "Yes, I would have gone to the moon" = Si, yo (bc it's talking about me) habría ido a la luna. 
It's all about conjugation, you won't use "se" when u're talking about "you" for example.

Hope it help you!!!!

Answer

Oh!! That's a really tricky particle!! I found some links that i think will be useful to you, because even if i'm a native, i can't really explain in words why or when we use it lol!! XD. I'm actually learning a lot of it jajaja.

However don't sweat it and don't get discouraged, keep on reading a lot of texts in spanish and eventually you'll get the hang of it and be able to know when is needed without actually needing the reasoning behind the rules. But that will come after a lot of reading!!

In the meanwhile and to help as reference, here are some interesting links!:

http://spanish.about.com/od/pronouns/a/introduction_se.htm

http://spanish.about.com/cs/verbs/a/passive_se.htm

http://www.indiana.edu/~call/reglas/pron_se.html

Answer

En estos casos "se" es el pronombre reflexivo, es complicado encontrar una regla de cuando se usa o no, para mi depende un poco del verbo que utilices y si pones el nombre a lo que te refieres o no.

Por ejemplo:
- La nieve se derretirá si hace sol. (el verbo es derretirse)
- La temperatura llegará a las -28ºC (no hace falta por que ponemos lo que llegará a -28ºC).
- Se llegará a las -28ºC (si no lo pones no se entiende la frase).

Si tienes más dudas de donde ponerlo o no, dímelo y te ayudo en cada caso pues es complicado encontrar una regla fija para ponerlo o no.

Answers · 5

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