How to use ‘se’ in Spanish?

The accidental se is the one we use to say that no one is directly responsible for an accidental or an unplanned event, or when no one wants to assume the responsibility for an action.

This se is the one we use as an equivalent of the words “one,” “you,” “people,” or “they” in English, when the agent, or “doer,” of the sentence is unknown or unidentified. To build this form, you need:

For a more in depth look at “accidental se” and the “impersonal se,” check out "What is the difference between impersonal se and accidental se in Spanish?"

The passive se is used to talk about something that happened to an object without saying who or what carried out the action — the agent, or “doer,” is implicit. You can think of it as an alternative to the passive voice in Spanish, with the verb ser ("to be").

The rules to build the passive se are:

• Only transitive verbsNo definition set for transitive verbsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. can be used.

• It’s more common with non-living nouns.

• The verb can be in the third-person singular or plural (because it has to agree with the subjectNo definition set for subjectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.), and it can be placed before or after the verb.

For example:

The middle se is utilized to express a state or a change of state, not an action. There is neither an explicit nor an implicit agent, or “doer,” of the action of the verb. This lack of an agent is what distinguishes it from the passive se, which has an implicit agent as discussed above. Here are some additional rules that apply to middle se:

• The subject is always specific, and appears with definite articlesNo definition set for definite articlesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or demonstrative adjectivesNo definition set for demonstrative adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., usually before the verb.

• The verb is conjugated in third-person singular or plural, matching the subject.

• The verb is followed by an adverbNo definition set for adverbLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or a prepositional phraseNo definition set for prepositional phraseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..

Some examples of middle se:

In some cases, they can use an indirect object pronoun, similar to an accidental se:

As you see in the examples, this construction is very close to the passive se, but can also see a little like the accidental se. I bet if you talk to any natives, they wouldn't know the difference!

In Spanish, this se is called "se espurio." But don’t let the weird name scare you away! This se is simply used to replace the indirect object pronouns le/les when there is also a direct object pronoun that also begins with an "L' such as lo, la, los, las. Here are some examples:

Check out our post for a refresher on using indirect and direct object pronouns in Spanish.

As you might remember from our post on reflexive pronouns in Spanish, the reflexive se is one of the five reflexive pronouns we use with verbs to talk about actions where the person doing and receiving the action are the same. When not in third-person singular or plural or useted/ustedes ("you formal/you-plural"), you will use other reflexive pronouns: me ("myself"), te ("yourself"), nos ("ourselves"), os ("you all (only in Spain)"). Here are some examples of the reflexive se:

We can talk about what two or more people do to each other in a reciprocal way by using reciprocal pronouns. They are the same as the plural reflexive pronouns (nos, os, se). here is an example using reciprocal se:

In Spanish, we love to add color and different texture to our sentences. The intensifier se (called se dativo in Spanish) is used to intensify or emphasize the meaning of a verb. A rule of thumb of the intensifier se, is that you can take it out of the sentence without altering its meaning, or without creating any grammatical issues. For example:

El niño es pequeño pero se comió cuatro platos de arroz con pollo.

The boy is small, but he ate four plates of rice and chicken.

(Note how taking the se out of the original Spanish sentence would not alter the meaning or affect the grammatical accuracy of the sentence!)

El perro se saltó la cerca cuando oyó los fuegos artificiales.

The dog jumped over the fence when he heard the fireworks.