When I first started learning Spanish I kept coming across words that end in “arse.”
That’s not as bad as it looks. It’s pronounced “AHR SEH.” I am sure you have seen it too with words like these:
levantarse
cambiarse
casarse
preguntarse
acostumbrarse
cansarse
enfermarse
enojarse
escaparse
mejorarse
preocuparse
They are like taco stands in Tijuana, or Jack in the Box burger joints in Southern California – everywhere you look, you see one.
And they have a cousin that used to cause me even more confusion. Their cousin is the pesky little pronoun se:
Se habla español.
Se lava las manos.
Se levanta temprano.
Se tiene que ir.
Everywhere you look: se, se, se. Que pasa? (What’s going on?)
There is a slight chance you may have figured this out for yourself. If you have worked it out, I give a big tip of the hat to you.
It literally took me years to get a handle on this part of the language. Most of us don’t figure it out for a long time.
Like me, you probably found explanations about these words vague and unclear. If you could make sense of them at all, they probably
only worked some of the time, which can leave you feeling more confused than ever.
Good news!
You can save yourself years of feeling lost. All it takes are some easy connections to English to get you started.
Once you know how to use these connections, your Spanish will sound more authentic, more articulate and more natural.
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