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Lillian
"No se contenta"
Can someone explain this phrase to me? In English, I know it means "is not satisfied (you can add con afterwards)" but is what part of speech is "se" here? It must be some form of estar because it's related to emotions which are conditional, right?
Apologies if this is a basic question. I am only 2 semesters into Spanish but trying to read Neruda poems and came across this line!
28 gru 2018 23:02
Odpowiedzi · 9
1
Se refers to he, she, or it. No se contenta = He/she/it is not satisfied/content. If you changed se to me, you would be referring to yourself. I always struggle with conjugations for he, she, or it because so often you do not have to include the subject when using the conjugated verb. Es muy difícil para mí (It is very difficult for me). Buena suerte!
28 grudnia 2018
1
“Se” in this case comes from de verb “ser”... that is one of the meanings lf the verb to be (ser o estar) and a mix of conditional with it because of the way the sentence is expressed... if you try to understand the full paragraph or sentence it might be easier.
“Ser” is who or what someone or something is...
“Estar” is where or how someone or something is
29 grudnia 2018
Part 2.
If you see the sentence without "se", it is the transitive form.
(the subject "Pedro" makes a voluntary action)
Pedro contentó a María con unas flores.
Pedro contentó a María. (le dijo palabras dulces y María se puso feliz)
Also, if you say "ella se contentó" with the meaning "ella se contentó a sí misma", it can be the transitive verb contentar and in this case "se" would be a direct object because you mean that she said nice words to herself in order to feel happy, although I think that it's not very usual.
But if you say "ella se contentó con las flores", it is the intransitive verb contentarse and "se" is the subject because you mean that she had and emotional reaction, made an involuntary action inside, she was emotionally affected by something, and she didn't do anything to anyone.
Other verbs like contentar -- contentarse.
Alegrar -- alegrarse
Entristecer -- entristecerse
Preocupar -- preocuparse
Enfadar -- enfadarse
Molestar -- molestarse
Emocionar -- emocionarse
Have a nice day.
5 stycznia 2019
Part 1.
Hi Lillian.
The verb "contentar" has different meanings, they all are related to each other, but are a little different, and this verb has two forms, the transitive and the intransitive one.
The transitive form is contentar -- someones satisfies someone with something, or someone makes someone happy.
Contentar is transitive because someone does something to someone.
Pedro contentó a María con unas flores.
Pedro contentó a María. (le dijo palabras dulces y María se puso feliz)
John satisfied her mom with a diploma.
John made her mom happy with a diploma.
John made her mom happy by saying sweet words to her.
The intransitive form is contentarse -- someone is content/satisfied with something.
Contentarse is an intransitive pronominal verb because it is an emotional reaction, the subject makes an involuntary action, he is emotionally affected by something, he doesn't do anything to anyone, the emotion is inside and he remains with it.
María se contentó con las flores.
John is content/satisfied with his diploma.
Contentarse is an intransitive pronominal verb and it works like the intransitive verbs "get + adjective" in English to express that someone hast an emotional reaction, makes an involuntary action inside, has a change of state.
He got tired
He got angry
he got bored
He got excited
The intransitive pronominal verbs are accompanied with the reflexive pronouns me, te, se, nos.
Yo me contento -- I am content/satisfied
Tú te contentas -- Yoy are content/satisfied
Usted se contenta -- You are content/satisfied
Él/ella se contenta -- He/she is content/satisfied
Nosotros/nosotras nos contentamos -- We are content/satisfied
Ustedes se contentan -- You are content/satisfied
Ellos/ellas se contentan -- They are content/satisfied
Contentarse need the reflexive pronoun "se" to refer to the subject, who has the emotional reaction.
5 stycznia 2019
"Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido"
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
29 grudnia 2018
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Lillian
Znajomość języków
angielski, japoński
Język do nauczenia się
japoński
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