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Voz media
The reflexive construction, used mainly with pronominal verbs, can also be used passively to describe accidental and unplanned occurrences, a construction known as voz media (middle voice), because it falls between the active and passive voices.
Por ejemplo…
| Se me derramó el café. | I spilled the coffee. | |
| ¿Se te perdió la llave? | Did you lose the key? | |
| Se le cayó la pluma. | He dropped the pen. |
In this type of passive reflexive construction, the reflexive pronoun se precedes an indirect object pronoun that indicates the subject, and the verb, rather than being conjugated to agree with the subject, agrees with whatever noun follows the verb.
| Se me olvidaron los libros. | I forgot the books. | |
| ¿Se te perdieron las llaves? | Did you lose the keys? | |
| Sí, se me cayeron ayer. | Yes, I dropped them yesterday. |
The accidental reflexive construction indicates that the action was unintentional. In addition, because the subject is only referred to by an indirect object pronoun, this passive construction gives the sense that the subject is not to blame – he or she had nothing to do with the accident.
| Literal meaning | ||
| Se me derramó el café. | The coffee got spilled by me. | |
| Se le cayó la pluma. | The pen got dropped by him. | |
| Se me olvidaron los libros. | The books got forgotten by me. | |
| ¿Se te perdieron las llaves? | Did the keys get lost on you? | |
| Sí, se me quedaron. | Yes, they got left behind on me. |
Compare this to the passive voice:
| El café es derramado. | The coffee is spilled. | |
| Las llaves son perdidas. | The keys are lost. | |
| Los libros fueron quedados. | The books were left behind. |
The following verbs are commonly used in the accidental reflexive construction. Note that some of them have a somewhat different meaning depending on whether they are used normally or reflexively:
| Normal meaning | Meaning with se | |||
| acabar | to finish, complete | acabarse | to run out of | |
| caer | to fall | caerse | to drop | |
| ocurrir | to occur, happen | ocurrirse | to dawn on, occur to, get the idea | |
| olvidar | to forget | olvidarse | to forget | |
| perder | to lose | perderse | to lose | |
| quedar | to remain, be left | quedarse | to leave behind | |
| quemar | to burn | quemarse | to burn | |
| romper | to break | romperse | to break | |
Reflexive Pronoun Quiz
Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on the various uses of se:
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More about Spanish pronominal verbs
- Introduction to pronominal verbs
- Reflexive verbs
- Reciprocal verbs
- Idiomatic pronominal verbs
- Reflexive se with unplanned occurrences
- Reflexive pronouns
- Reflexive prepositional pronouns
- Passive voice
- Introduction to voice
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