Lesson 80

The Many Jobs of Se

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

Three uses of se:

Reflexive — himself/herself/themselves: Se queda (he stays = remains himself).
Phonetic change — le + lo → se lo: Se lo di (I gave it to him).
"On me" construction — se + me/te/nos = "on me": Se me cierra la puerta (The door closes on me). La cena se me quema (The dinner burns on me).

Acabar = to finish/run out. La batería = the battery. La batería se acaba = the battery runs out. La batería siempre se me acaba = the battery always runs out on me.

Sentences practiced

Spanish	English
Se queda.	He stays.
Lo preparo.	I prepare it.
Se lo preparo.	I prepare it for them. (les→se before lo)
La puerta se cierra.	The door closes.
La cena se quema.	The dinner burns.
La cena se me quema.	The dinner burns on me.
La batería se acaba.	The battery runs out.
La batería siempre se me acaba.	The battery always runs out on me.
¿La batería se te acaba?	Does the battery run out on you?
¿La batería se le acaba?	Does the battery run out on him/her?
La cena se quemó.	The dinner burned.