Se aspectual Flashcards
In Spanish, particularly in conversational Spanish, we often use verbs that are not traditionally pronominal with a reflexive pronoun.
This is called “se aspectual.” While this doesn’t dramatically change the meaning of the verb, there is always an element of subjectivity in the pronominal form.
It expresses the culmination/completion of an action, for example with verbs like comer or beber.
Laura ate an apple.
Laura comió una manzana.
Laura se comió una manzana.
Although the meaning is similar, comer simply states what happened and focuses more on the action, whilst comerse adds the nuance of culmination/completion of the action. This sense of culmination is often expressed in English with a preposition (eat up, drink up). The listener perceives these two sentences in a slightly different way.
He has drunk beer.
Ha bebido cerveza.
Have you drunk the [whole] beer?
¿Te has bebido la cerveza?
Javier read the book I gave him.
Javier leyó el libro que le di.
Javier read the book I gave him. [implying he finished it]
Javier se leyó el libro que le di.
Yesterday we studied a very interesting topic.
We studied the [whole] topic in 20 minutes.
In the examples above, the verbs that are not using the se aspectual convey more of an open-ended action, while the examples that use the se aspectual imply an implicit end moment.
Ayer estudiamos un tema muy interesante.
Nos estudiamos el tema en 20 minutos.
We’ve learned many things in school.
Have you learned the [whole] lesson?
Hemos aprendido muchas cosas en el colegio.
¿Os habéis aprendido la lección?
Cristina went to Mallorca.
Cristina went off to Mallorca.
Cristina fue a Mallorca.
Cristina se fue a Mallorca.
In the first example, the focus is on the destination (the most important part is where she went). In the second example with the se aspectual, the focus is on the action of leaving more than the destination - there is more implicit information: the listener understands that she left and headed to Mallorca.
Don’t believe his lies.
Don’t believe his lies at all. [don’t be so naive]
No creas sus mentiras.
No te creas sus mentiras.
morir vs morirse:
There is a tendency to use morir when it’s more impersonal, objective, with little emotional involvement from the speaker. It is also far more common to use morir in written Spanish.
In spoken Spanish, it is much more frequent to use morirse when the speaker is showing personal affection. In addition, it refers to the “process” of dying:
The doctor told me that my dad is dying.
El médico me ha dicho que mi padre se está muriendo.
I am very sad because my dog died a few days ago.
Estoy muy afligida porque mi perro se murió hace unos días.
I have sad news for you: Dolores has died.
Tengo que darte una mala noticia; Dolores se ha muerto.
The patient died of pneumonia.
El paciente murió de neumonía.
