Uses of Se in Spanish

The word se has several different uses in Spanish. It can mean oneself, each other, refer to people in general, form a type of passive sentence, or simply be part of a verb.

The key is not to translate se by itself. Instead, look at what the whole sentence is doing.

Quick overview

Use	Example	Main idea
Reflexive	Ana se lava.	Ana washes herself
Reciprocal	Ana y Luis se ayudan.	They help each other
Impersonal	Aquí se vive bien.	People live well here
Passive	Se venden libros.	Books are sold
Accidental	Se me cayó el vaso.	I accidentally dropped the glass
le / les → se	Se lo doy.	I give it to him/her/them
Pronominal verb	Se arrepintió.	se is part of the verb
Aspectual se	Se comió toda la pizza.	emphasizes completion

1. Reflexive se

With reflexive se, the subject performs an action on themselves.

Ana se lava. — Ana washes herself.
Carlos se viste. — Carlos gets dressed.
Mi padre se afeita por la mañana. — My father shaves in the morning.

Here, se is the third-person reflexive pronoun. With other persons, it changes:

Me lavo.
Te lavas.
Se lava.
Nos lavamos.
Os laváis.
Se lavan.

See Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns for the full pattern.

2. Reciprocal se

With a plural subject, se can mean each other.

Ana y Luis se ayudan. — Ana and Luis help each other.
Mis padres se llaman todos los días. — My parents call each other every day.
Nos vemos mañana. — We’ll see each other tomorrow.

The sentence must involve two or more people acting on one another.

Sometimes context is needed:

Ana y Marta se miran.

This could mean they look at themselves or they look at each other, although the reciprocal meaning is often more natural in context.

You can make the reciprocal meaning explicit with el uno al otro / la una a la otra, etc.:

Se ayudan el uno al otro. — They help each other.

3. Impersonal se

Use impersonal se when talking about what people in general do without naming a specific person.

En España se cena tarde. — People eat dinner late in Spain.
Aquí se vive bien. — People live well here.
¿Cómo se dice esto en español? — How do you say this in Spanish?
No se puede fumar aquí. — You cannot smoke here.

A useful pattern is:

se + third-person singular verb

There is no specific grammatical subject.

See Impersonal Se for a full explanation.

4. Passive se

With passive se, something receives an action, and the person performing the action is not important or is not mentioned.

Se vende una casa. — A house is for sale.
Se venden casas. — Houses are for sale.
Se necesitan profesores. — Teachers are needed.

Unlike impersonal se, the verb agrees with the noun:

Se vende una casa__.
Se venden dos casas__.

This distinction is one of the most important when learning se.

See Passive Se for the difference between passive and impersonal se.

5. Accidental se

Spanish often uses se to describe something that happened accidentally or unintentionally.

Se me cayó el vaso. — I dropped the glass.
Se me olvidaron las llaves. — I forgot my keys.
Se nos rompió el ordenador. — Our computer broke.

A common pattern is:

se + indirect object pronoun + verb

The indirect object pronoun shows who is affected:

se me cayó → it happened to me
se te olvidó → it happened to you
se nos rompió → it happened to us

This structure works differently from ordinary reflexive se, so it is useful to learn it separately.

See Accidental Se for the full structure and verb agreement.

6. Se replacing le or les

Sometimes se is simply a replacement for the indirect object pronouns le and les.

When le or les comes before lo, la, los, or las, it changes to se.

Doy el libro a Ana. → Le doy el libro.
Le + lo doy. ❌
Se lo doy. ✓ — I give it to her.

Another example:

Les envié las fotos. → Se las envié. — I sent them the photos.

Here, se does not mean “herself,” “each other,” or “people in general.” It is simply the form used instead of le or les.

See Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns Together.

7. Pronominal verbs with se

Sometimes se is part of the verb itself.

For example:

arrepentirse — to regret
quejarse — to complain
darse cuenta de — to realize

You normally learn these verbs together with se:

Se arrepintió de su decisión. — She regretted her decision.
Siempre se queja del trabajo. — He always complains about work.
Me di cuenta del problema. — I realized the problem.

Other verbs can exist with and without se, but their meaning may change:

ir — to go
irse — to leave / go away
dormir — to sleep
dormirse — to fall asleep

These are often called pronominal verbs. They are best learned as complete verb patterns rather than trying to give se a separate translation.

See Pronominal Verbs for more examples and common meaning changes.

Advanced: aspectual se

Aspectual se is a more advanced use of se, roughly at the B1–B2 level. Beginners do not need to use it actively. At A1–A2, focus first on the more common uses of se, especially reflexive, impersonal, and passive se.

With some verbs, adding se can emphasize that an action is completed or done in its entirety.

Compare:

Comió la pizza. — He ate the pizza.
Se comió toda la pizza. — He ate the whole pizza / ate it all up.

Another common example:

Bebió una botella de agua. — He drank a bottle of water.
Se bebió una botella entera de agua. — He drank the whole bottle of water.

At an intermediate level, the important thing is simply to recognize this use when you see it. You do not need to add se every time you talk about completing an action.

How to identify se

When you see se, ask:

Is someone doing something to themselves? → reflexive
Are two or more people doing something to each other? → reciprocal
Does it mean people in general? → impersonal
Is something being sold, made, needed, etc.? → passive
Did something happen accidentally or unintentionally? → accidental
Is there also lo, la, los, or las? → it may be le / les → se
Is se part of the verb itself? → pronominal verb

Quick rule

There is no single translation for se.

Instead of asking “What does se mean?”, ask “What function does se have in this sentence?”

For beginners, learn reflexive se first. Then focus on impersonal se and passive se, before moving on to accidental and pronominal uses.

Practice: What does se mean?

Identify the use of se in each sentence. Choose from:

reflexive · reciprocal · impersonal · passive · accidental · le/les → se · pronominal · aspectual

Marta se lava la cara todas las mañanas.
En esta ciudad se vive muy bien.
Se venden apartamentos cerca de la playa.
Ana y Pablo se escriben todos los días.
Se me olvidaron las llaves en casa.
Le di el libro a Marta → Se lo di.
Carlos se arrepintió de su decisión.
Se comió todo el pastel.
¿Cómo se dice “chair” en español?
Se necesitan dos camareros.
Los dos amigos se abrazaron al encontrarse.
Se me cayó el móvil al suelo.

Answers

Reflexive — Marta performs the action on herself.
Impersonal — it refers to people in general.
Passive — apartamentos receives the action, and the verb agrees with the plural noun.
Reciprocal — Ana and Pablo write to each other.
Accidental — forgetting the keys is presented as unintentional.
Le/les → se — le changes to se before lo.
Pronominal — arrepentirse is a pronominal verb.
Aspectual — se emphasizes eating the whole cake.
Impersonal — no specific person is doing the action.
Passive — dos camareros is the grammatical subject, so necesitan is plural.
Reciprocal — the two friends hugged each other.
Accidental — dropping the phone is presented as an unintended event.