Se #1: reflexive and reciprocal

Explicación

The most concrete of the five se's is the reflexive: it marks a third-person subject acting on itself. Se ducha ('he showers'), se levanta temprano, se compró un auto ('bought himself a car'). The se is simply the third-person form of the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, os, se).

With a plural subject the same se can be reciprocal — 'each other': se conocen, se escriben, se ayudan, se saludaron. Context (or el uno al otro) tells reflexive from reciprocal.

This is the entry point of the whole se system: the other four uses — accidental (se me cayó), passive (se venden casas), impersonal (se vive bien), and the le→se substitute (se lo di) — reuse the same little word for different grammar, each in its own rule.

Ejemplos

Reglas relacionadas

• Reflexive pronouns: me, te, se, nos, os, se
• Se #2: accidents — se me cayó, se me olvidó
• Se #3: the se passive — se venden casas