Se me ha roto: how Spanish lifts the blame for a breakdown
'I broke the phone' and 'the phone broke on me' are two different sentences, and the second is gentler. Spanish has a fixed way to say it: se, then the pronoun for the person, then the verb in the él form. For example: “Se me ha estropeado la lavadora y no sé qué hacer” — The washing machine has broken down on me and I do not know what to do. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a…
How it works
'I broke the phone' and 'the phone broke on me' are two different sentences, and the second is gentler. Spanish has a fixed way to say it: se, then the pronoun for the person, then the verb in the él form.
Se me ha roto el móvil is 'the phone broke itself on me'. There is no blame, only an event. The verb looks at the thing: se me han roto las gafas takes han, because glasses are plural.
The list of verbs is short and domestic: romperse, estropearse, caerse, perderse, olvidarse, acabarse. Se me ha olvidado is 'I forgot'; se nos ha acabado el pan is 'we are out of bread'.
Next to it stands estar with a participle, the state after the event: la pantalla está rota.
Table
| phrase | word for word | what it means |
|---|---|---|
| he roto el móvil | I broke the phone | I own the blame |
| se me ha roto el móvil | the phone broke itself on me | no one's to blame, it just happened |
| el móvil está roto | the phone is broken | its state now |
| se me han caído las llaves | the keys fell from me | I dropped the keys |
| se nos ha acabado el pan | the bread ran out on us | we're out of bread |
| aquí se reparan móviles | phones repair themselves here | phones are repaired here |
By example
- Se me ha estropeado la lavadora y no sé qué hacerThe washing machine has broken down on me and I do not know what to do
- Se nos ha ido el sonido en mitad de la películaThe sound died on us in the middle of the film
- Aquí se reparan ordenadores en veinticuatro horasComputers are repaired here within twenty-four hours
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Se me ha roto: how does it work in Spanish?
'I broke the phone' and 'the phone broke on me' are two different sentences, and the second is gentler. Spanish has a fixed way to say it: se, then the pronoun for the person, then the verb in the él form.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“Se me ha estropeado la lavadora y no sé qué hacer” — The washing machine has broken down on me and I do not know what to do. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.