Quote:
Originally Posted by caliber1
". . .donde venden manzanas" would sound like you're saying that the apples are selling something. By putting the "se" in there it sounds like you're saying "where the apples get sold/are sold".
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That sounds right to me. There are two issues here:
1) The word order in Spanish is more flexible than English. English usually has subject - verb - object: They - sell - apples. But Spanish often has the subject after the verb, so
venden manzanas could mean
apples are selling (something)...
2) Spanish avoids the passive voice. Instead of saying
apples are sold, you say
apples sell themselves. This is where the
se comes in. In this case, it means
themselves. So
apples sell themselves (meaning
Apples are sold).
This might sound odd to the English ear. I see signs "house for sale" which say
se vende. Obviously a house can't sell itself, somebody has to sell it. But that's how Spanish works.