Trouble Understanding examples.

Jannice K.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Trouble Understanding examples.

Hi, I am trying to understand this lesson, and am confused by the two examples shown.

 Why on the second example you   put (accidentally) but not on the first example?

A Juan se le olvidó traer el hielo.

Juan forgot to bring the ice.A Juan se le olvidó traer cervezas.Juan [accidentally] forgot to bring beers
I understand that third person singular is used for both, and thought both examples are ‘accidental’ hence using SE.
Thanks
Asked 7 months ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Jannice

In that part of the lesson we put two very similar sentences to highlight that the verb is used in 3rd person singular whenever you forget "doing something" ; that doing something is expressed with an infinitive. We give two examples, one showing when you forget "bringing a singular thing" (traer el hielo) and another one showing when you forget "bringing a plural thing" (traer cervezas) - even though "cervezas" is a plural object, you still need the verb in the singular form "se me olvidó" (not se me olvidaron traer cervezas). This is what we try to show with those two examples. One might think that the verb should agree with the object, but it agrees with the infinitive (in this case, traer).

I hope this clarified it. 

Saludos cordiales

Jannice K. asked:

Trouble Understanding examples.

Hi, I am trying to understand this lesson, and am confused by the two examples shown.

 Why on the second example you   put (accidentally) but not on the first example?

A Juan se le olvidó traer el hielo.

Juan forgot to bring the ice.A Juan se le olvidó traer cervezas.Juan [accidentally] forgot to bring beers
I understand that third person singular is used for both, and thought both examples are ‘accidental’ hence using SE.
Thanks

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Clever stuff happening!