For such a long time, I've always been wondering: "why is there a 'se' in phrases like cómo se dice and cómo se escribe?´´ I'm happy to say that I finally figured it out today-and the reasoning behind it actually makes sense
As we know, ´se´ is used in reflexive verbs like ¨bañarse¨ and ¨despertarse¨ -literally translating as "to bathe oneself" and "to wake onself up". This will be explained in greater detail in future posts
However, today I learned that there is another surprising use of 'se'-the impersonal/passive se
You know how you see signs near the pool like "no running" or on a shop like "we sell books here"? Well, that's the basic idea of the impersonal 'se', except in Spanish, we translate or think of it differently. Like the verb gustar, "to please oneself" [For example: Me gusta dibujar-drawing pleases me], the impersonal se translates to "one does [action]".
For example: se permite bailar translates to "one is permitted to dance", or as we commonly known in English, "dancing is permitted".
Essentially, the idea is to place a "se" before a third-person conjugated verb.
1) Notice, however, that the verb can change to third-person singular or plural depending on the direct object that follows.
For ex: se vende pollo aquí- pollo is singular, so the verb is in the third person singular conjugation (Literally translates to one sells chicken here, meaning: We sell chicken here)
Se venden camisas aquí- camisas is plural, so the verb is conjugated to third person plural
(Literally translates to one sells shirts here, meaning: we sell shirts here)
2) If there is a verb that follows, then use the third-person singular form
For Ex: Se prohíbe bailar aquí
Se puede hablar español aquí
So where does this rule come into play with phrases like ´"cómo se dice... and cómo se escribe?" Well, you can almost treat the 'se' as 'one does [action]"-so como se dice would equate to: "how does one say...?"and "como se escribe" would mean: " how does one write?" It's kind of like asking about the norm, like "normally how does a person do this or that"
For ex: Como se escribe tu nombre? In other words, how does one write your name, or put more simply "how is your name written?"
I hope this made sense and helped! :)
Come back for future blog posts!
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