Lesson 38

When Le Turns into Se

Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.

When le/les appears right before lo/la/los/las, it changes to se. This is purely phonetic — Spanish doesn't like two l-sounds bumping together (le lo sounds awkward). So le lo di becomes se lo di.

But se has another important role. For me, te, and nos, the meanings of "myself," "yourself," and "ourselves/each other" are already built in — they don't change. But for the third person, lo/la/los/las become se to mean "himself," "herself," "themselves." Easy to remember: se is the beginning of "self."

To recap:

me = me / to me / for me / myself (never changes)
te = you / to you / for you / yourself (never changes)
nos = us / to us / for us / ourselves / each other (never changes)
se = himself / herself / itself / themselves / oneself (third person reflexive)
se also = le/les when followed by lo/la (phonetic change)

This unlocks quedarse (to stay). Quedar = to remain. "I remain myself" = me quedo = I stay. "He remains himself" = se queda = he stays. In the dictionary, you'll find it listed as quedarse — the se represents "oneself."

Similarly: darse cuenta = to realize (give oneself account). Se da cuenta = he/she realizes.

Sentences practiced

Spanish	English
Me hablo.	I speak to myself.
Nos hablamos.	We speak to each other.
Se habla.	He/she speaks to himself/herself.
Él se habla.	He speaks to himself.
Ella se habla.	She speaks to herself.
Se hablan.	They speak to each other.
Les hablan.	They speak to them. (different group)
Me quedo.	I stay.
Nos quedamos.	We stay.
Te quedas.	You stay.
¿Te quedas?	Are you staying?
¿No te quedas?	Aren't you staying?
¿Por qué no te quedas?	Why don't you stay?
Yo me quedo.	I'm staying.
Nosotros nos quedamos.	We're staying. (emphatic)
Nosotras nos quedamos.	We (all female) are staying.
Tú te quedas.	You're staying. (emphatic)
Se queda.	He/she stays.
Se quedan.	They stay.
Quiero quedarme.	I want to stay.
Quiere quedarse.	He/she wants to stay.
Quieren quedarse.	They want to stay.
Ellos quieren quedarse.	They (masculine/mixed) want to stay.
Ellas quieren quedarse.	They (feminine) want to stay.
Ustedes quieren quedarse.	You guys want to stay.
Me doy cuenta.	I realize.
No me doy cuenta.	I don't realize.
Nos damos cuenta.	We realize.
No nos damos cuenta.	We don't realize.
Se da cuenta.	He/she realizes.
Ella se da cuenta.	She realizes.
Se dan cuenta.	They realize.
No se dan cuenta.	They don't realize.