Comparison of Italian and Spanish
The Pronouns si and se
The Italian pronoun si has several functions:
- It plays the role of the third person reflexive pronoun, regardless of whether the
subject is in the singular or in the plural. For example, ``She washes herself" and
"They wash themselves" translate as Si lava and Si lavano, respectively.
(Note that si guardavano could be translated as either "They looked at themselves"
or "They looked at each other". If one wishes to make it clear that the latter is intended,
one can say Si guardavano l'uno a l'altro.)
- It can be used in a special kind of passive construction. For example, "Houses are sold"
can be translated as Si vendono case.
- It can be used to form an "impersonal" phrase. For example, "One must eat every day"
can be translated as Si deve mangiare ogni giorno. (Note that, if an adjective is
involved, it is put into the plural. For example, "One must be careful" translates as
Si deve stare attenti.)
The Spanish pronoun se works in a similar way:
- Reflexive: "She washes herself" and "They wash themselves" become
Se lava and Se lavan, respectively. (Again, "They looked at each other"
translates as Se miraban, el uno al otro.)
- Passive: "Houses are sold" becomes Se venden casas.
- Impersonal: "One must eat every day" becomes Se debe comer cada
día.
However, se has an additional function in Spanish. It arises when one has
a direct object pronoun and an indirect object pronoun in the same phrase.
For example, "She has given it to him" would become "(ella) se lo ha dado".
This does not occur in Italian: the analogous phrase would be "(lei) gliel'ha dato".
Created September 2022 by Adam N. Letchford.