Unplanned Occurrences and the Spanish Reflexive Pronoun Se

The reflexive construction, used mainly with pronominal verbs - a verb that is accompanied by a reflexive pronoun , can also be used to describe accidental and unplanned occurrences.

Se me olvidó el libro. I forgot the book.

Se le cayó la pluma. He dropped the pen.

In this type of 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 construction gives the sense that the subject is not to blame - he or she had nothing to do with the accident.

Phrase Literal meaning

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:

Se cayó la pluma. The pen fell.

Se perdieron las llaves. The keys got lost.

Se quedaron los libros. The books got 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 in this construction

acabar to finish, complete acabarse to run out of

caer to fall caerse to drop

ocurrir to occur, happen ocurrirse to dawn on, to occur to, get the idea

dañars to damage dañarse to damage; to break down

olvidar to forget olvidarse to forget

perder to lose perderse to lose

quedar to remain, be left quedarse to leave behind

romper to break romperse to break

The following common verbs express accidental or unplanned occurrences. In each case, the verb is used reflexively and an indirect object (IO) indicates the “victim” of the “accident.”

acabarse (to run out of)

to run out of Se me acabó la gasolina. I ran out of gas.

caerse to fall; to drop Se me cayeron los platos. I accidentally dropped the dishes.

dañarse to damage; to break down

Se les dañó la computadora.

They accidentally damaged the computer.

ocurrirse to occur Se me ocurrió una gran idea.

A great idea occurred to me.

olvidarse to forget; to slip one’s mind)

Se nos olvidó la tarea. We forgot the homework or the homework slipped our mind.

perderse to lose (an object) Se le perdieron las llaves He lost his keys.

quedarse to be left behind Se me quedó la cartera en casa

I accidentally left my wallet at home.

romperse (to break) Se te rompieron los lentes

You accidentally broke your glasses.