It's a reflexive construction that you need to learn, there are many others like i.e. "se me ha olvidado" --> I forgot about it. "Se" will always go with the verb.

The "se" is referring to the direct object. It occurred to me.

"Se" refers to the verb, it is part of it. You need it in order to express the meaning of the verb, so you use it in any of the persons: –se me ocurre –se te ocurre –se le ocurre –se nos ocurre –se os ocurre –se les ocurre As you see, "se" and "ocurre" does not change and the indirect object is what actually changes depending on the person who talks, the grammatic subject of the sentence. Remember! the gramatic subject in this kind of sentences is not yo, tú, él, ella, nosotros, ellos....It is A mí, A ti, A él, A ella, A nosotros, A ellos: –A mí se me ocurre –A ti se te ocurre –A ella / A él / A usted se le ocurre –A nosotros se nos ocurre –A vosotros se os ocurre –A ellos / A ustedes se les ocurre The actually subject of the sentence it is always something, a third person thing, that´s why the verb it´s always in third person: –A mí se me ocurre una idea ( Una idea, is the Subject)

Hola Michael. In my opinion "se" is not a Direct Object, neither a reflexive verb "ocurrirse" In this case the "se" particle is working as a function of emphasizing the Subject thus, the speaker (Yo) "me" is working as Indirect Object replacing the pronoum "a mí (Yo)" The verb "ocurrir + se = pronominal verb" in this context, it means to have an idea. Se me ha ocurrido una gran idea => I've got a great idea. Se me ocurre que podemos ir al cine => It occurs to me that we can go to the cinema. If you have any question, please let me know. Regards. Antonio

"i had an idea"