Spanish language Q&A Forum

I am having difficulty understanding the difference in terminology between "impersonal se" and "passive reflexive se" and in particular the difference in their translation into English. ¿Puedes ayudarme?

The example sentence:

"En esta tienda pueden comprarse unas joyas muy bonitas."

The translation is given is 

"You can buy very nice jewels in this shop."

However could it also be translated as:

"They can buy themselves some very nice jewels in this shop." 

if we interpret the se as being an indirect object rather than passive?

this is a helpful lesson with good examples.

but I’m confused.  the lesson says:  The verb is conjugated in the 3rd person singular or plural, according to the subject in the sentence.

aren’t the singular or plural things the objects of the sentences?

Hello,

I'm just wondering about the use of the reflexive comprarse.  It is used in this example:

En esta tienda pueden comprarse unas joyas muy bonitas.You can buy very nice jewels in this shop
Why is the reflexive used here, and in general when do we use comprarse instead of comprar?
Thanks!Marcos

Though it is a bit formal sounding, another way to translate the passive form in English referring to a  '"general you", i.e. people in general ',  is "ONE must/can...". For example "One must always tell the truth".

I find that helps me differentiate between "you must" - debes (a specific person), and the passive "One must" - se debe (people/individuals in general) 

The question is:

No ________ papeles al suelo.
You must not throw papers on the floor.
HINT: Choose the correct passive form.

The four possible answers are:

se puede tirar
se puedes tirar
te puede tirar
se pueden tirar

The correct answer given is se pueden tirar. Should it not be:-....   “No se deben tirar papeles al suelo”