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Se has many uses in Spanish. Two of the most common uses are the 'impersonal se' and the 'passive se'.
The 'impersonal se' is used with a third person singular verb. It is used as the impersonal English subjects, one, you, people, or they.
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¿Cómo se dice 'mal aliento' en inglés?
En Argentina se toma mate todos los días
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How does one say 'bad breath' in English?
In Argentina they drink mate everyday
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The 'passive se' is very similar to the 'impersonal se'. The agent of the action is either unknown or unimportant and the influence is placed on the action and not the doer.
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No se habla español en esa escuela
Se gasta mucha plata en Abasto shoping
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Spanish is not spoken in that school
A lot of money is spent in Abasto mall
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One of the many uses of se in Spanish is a 'no fault' construction. This construction is used for unexpected occurrences and does not place the blame on anyone. These sentences include se and an 'indirect object pronoun' (me, te, le, nos, les) which refers to the person(s) involved and the verb conjugated in third person. For example:
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Jorge se le perdió la cartera
Se me olvidaron tus libros
Se nos cayeron los platos
Se me rompió la silla
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Jorge lost his wallet/Jorge's wallet got lost
I forgot your books/
Your books were forgotten
We dropped the plates/The plates fell
I broke the chair/The chair broke
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The 'no fault' construction is very commonly used. If you were to not use it, you would appear to have done the action on purpose. For example:
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Rompí la lampara
Perdí mi tarea
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I broke the lamp
I lost my homework
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