Reflexive Pronoun 'se' — European Spanish Grammar

The pronoun is a versatile third-person pronoun used for singular and plural subjects. It refers to himself, herself, itself, yourself (formal), or themselves. Depending on the context, it indicates that the subject is performing an action on themselves, on each other, or that the action is general without a specific subject.

Reflexive Actions

The most direct use of is to show that the subject of the verb is also the object. The action reflects back onto the person doing it. This is used with third-person subjects (, , , ) and the formal second person (, ).

Ella se levanta a las ocho.
She gets up (lifts herself) at eight.
El hombre se mira en el espejo.
The man looks at himself in the mirror.
Usted se lava las manos.
You wash your hands (wash yourself the hands).

Reciprocal Actions

When the subject is plural, can express a reciprocal action, meaning the individuals are doing the action to each other or one another.

Juan y María se quieren mucho.
Juan and María love each other very much.
Ellos se escriben correos a menudo.
They write emails to each other often.
Mis padres se conocen desde hace años.
My parents have known each other for years.

Impersonal and Passive Statements

In European Spanish, is frequently used to form impersonal sentences where the specific subject is irrelevant, unknown, or applies to people in general (similar to the English "one," "they," or "people"). This is also used to form the passive voice.

En España se come muy bien.
In Spain one eats very well.
Se venden pisos en este edificio.
Apartments are sold in this building.
No se permite fumar.
Smoking is not allowed (one is not permitted to smoke).

Replacing 'Le' and 'Les'

When you combine an indirect object pronoun ( or ) with a direct object pronoun starting with 'l' (, , , ), the indirect pronoun changes to to avoid the repetitive sound. You cannot say "le lo"; you must say "se lo".

Se lo di ayer.
I gave it to him/her yesterday.
Quiero decírselo ahora.
I want to tell it to him/her now.

Changing Verb Meanings

Adding to certain verbs can change their meaning, often focusing on the start of an action or the completeness of it.

(to go) vs. (to leave/go away).
(to sleep) vs. (to fall asleep).

El niño se durmió en el coche.
The boy fell asleep in the car.
Ya es tarde, me voy a casa.
It is late already, I am leaving for home.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s European Spanish course

43 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 4. A few of them, with the words “Reflexive Pronoun 'se'” is about in bold:

¿Cómo te encuentras? ¿Bien o mal?
How are you feeling? Good or bad?
Lesson 61
Ya me quiero ir a mi casa.
I want to go home now.
Lesson 71
Me encanta el frío. Me encanta la nieve y el hielo.
I love cold weather. I love snow and ice.
Lesson 295

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