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Teryl
Se debe / se deben
Which do I use in the following sentence?:
-- Para estar en forma se debe(n?) comer más fruta y verduras
I found it in a textbook as 'se debe...',
but I thought it should be debeN, because 'fruta y verduras' is plural.
6 mei 2019 04:01
Antwoorden · 8
2
It is correct as "se debe." This is an example of the impersonal "se," which is always used with a third person singular verb. [más fruta y verdura] is the direct object. There is no agreement in Spanish of the verb with the direct object.
6 mei 2019
1
Hi Teryl,
This is a good question. The answer is not straightforward. I hope you can read through this explanation: https://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/se-puede-se-pueden/
For your sentence, the preferred option is to use the plural: Se deben comer más frutas y verduras. But you could use the singular. (the options are based on whether you opt to consider "más frutas y verduras" as a subject or as the direct object of the sentence.
I you rearranged the sentence though, the plural would be a must: Las frutas y verduras se deben comer al natural (your original sentence would be valid but strange if rearranged).
Saludos,
Antonio
6 mei 2019
1
going deeper into these sentences i found them a bit incorrect actually, to start with if u say "se debe comer mas fruta y verdura" u cant write verduras in the plural form, if u do so then u would have to write "se deben comer mas frutas y verduras". So these are the options, "se debe comer mas fruta y verdura" or "se deben comer mas frutas y verduras".
Hope that helps, let me know if it is still not clear for u. Btw, srry if i didnt use apostrophes, my keyboard isnt working as it should be xD.
6 mei 2019
1
Hola Teryl
En este caso, no hay problema si solo utilizas "se debe", hay personas que también utilizan "se deben" pero lo más correcto es la primera opción.
¡Saludos!
6 mei 2019
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Teryl
Taalvaardigheden
Engels, Frans, Spaans
Taal die wordt geleerd
Spaans
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