Español — Involuntary/accidental se
Spanish has a special structure for accidents and unplanned events: se + an indirect-object pronoun + verb. It shifts the blame off the person, so instead of "I forgot" you say se me olvidó, literally "it forgot itself on me".
How it works
Build it as se + IO pronoun (me/te/le/nos/os/les) + verb, and the verb agrees with the thing affected, not with the person. In se me olvidó la llave the verb is singular, but in se me olvidaron las llaves it becomes plural; likewise se le cayó el vaso (one glass) versus se le cayeron los vasos (several).
Examples
| Spanish | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Se me olvidó el nombre. | I forgot the name (it slipped my mind). |
| Se te cayó el móvil. | You dropped your phone. |
| Se le rompió la taza. | He/she broke the cup (it broke on him/her). |
| Se nos rompió el vaso. | We broke the glass (it broke on us). |
| Se me olvidaron las llaves. | I forgot the keys (verb plural for keys). |
| Se les acabó la gasolina. | They ran out of petrol. |
| Se me quedó el paraguas en casa. | I left the umbrella at home (unintentionally). |
Good to know
To name the person explicitly, add a + noun/pronoun, and le/les still stays: a Juan se le cayó el vaso, a mí se me olvidó. Don't confuse this se with the reflexive: yo me olvidé is grammatical but sounds more like a deliberate act, whereas se me olvidó frames it as an accident beyond your control.