Help with spanish " double INDIRECT object pronouns/ SE " The thing that has always confused me in spanish is when i see/hear "SE LES, SE NOS, NO TE ME..." I completely get lost when these types of fr

juandoe

Help with spanish " double INDIRECT object pronouns/ SE "

The thing that has always confused me in spanish is when i see/hear "SE LES, SE NOS, NO TE ME..." I completely get lost when these types of frases enter the conversation. I become completely blocked.

here are some examples of these types of phrases. google/spanishdict doesn't translate these types of constructions very well also. I need some help translating these so i can get a better understanding of the construction/meaning. thanks.

1- Se nos muere

2- Se nos va de casa

3- No le come nada

4- se te casa

5- No te me escondas

6- Se le muere

just for clasification. I understand the double "INDIRECT OBJECT / DIRECT OBJECT" construction just fine.

example - SE LOS MANDE', TE LA DIJE

May 31, 2020 8:16 PM

Comments · 4

Well, it’s more complicated to say in English, so we wouldn’t necessarily bother, but see if this makes sense to you:

Your son is getting married, Mary. He is getting married on you.

June 1, 2020

4- se te casa

Can you provide some context?

these are from an exercise from "gramatica de uso del espaNol" book. Very good series BTW.

Se casa tu hijo, Maria. Se te casa.

Thank you for the explanations. it helps greatly. mil gracias.

June 1, 2020

Even a little bit of context would help a lot, but anyhow, I’m going to try to translate these into idiomatic English, while retaining the nuances of the Spanish as much as possible.

1- Se nos muere

He / She dies /is dying “on” us. (Not literally on us, but “on” meaning that we are affected by the death.)

The reflexive is idiomatic here.

2- Se nos va de casa

One possible translation: He / She is moving out of our house. In English, we could use a possessive to translate the dative pronoun. "On" might also work: "He / She is moving out on us."

3- No le come nada

Person A won’t eat anything from / of person B.

In English, a prepositional phrase is used.

4- se te casa

Can you provide some context?

5- No te me escondas

Don’t hide (yourself) from me. “Te” is a reflexive *direct object* pronoun. Only “me” is an indirect object here.

6- Se le muere

Person A dies “on” person B. (This is the same structure as number 1, only with different persons.)

Summary: Basically, we do the same thing in English, only in English, prepositional or possessive phrases are used rather than a pronoun in the dative.

June 1, 2020