Phrase · 💥 Mishaps
A Tomás se le perdió la billetera en el mercado.
Tomás lost his wallet at the market.
B2mishapsAudio · coming soon
Why every word is where it is
A1prepositiontoTomás1nounTomásse2object pronoun(itself)3rd · direct objectle1object pronoun(on) himél · 3rd sing. · indirect objectperdió2verbgot lostperder · past · 3rd sing.ladeterminerthe (his)el · fem. · sing. · definitebilletera3nounwalletfem. · sing.enprepositionat, ineldeterminerthemasc. · sing. · definitemercadonounmarketmasc. · sing..
- le → Tomás: ref
- perdió → le: iobj
- billetera → perdió: agree
- billetera → la: agree
Word for word: “To Tomás the wallet got lost on him at the market.”
Why it's built this way
The notes match the numbers above.
- 1A Tomás … le: the person affected appears twice, as a Tomás and as le. The le cannot be dropped. Indirect object pronouns and doubling →
- 2se le perdió = he lost it without meaning to. Perdió la billetera is also correct; se le stresses the accident. Accidental se and the middle voice →
- 3billetera = wallet; Mexico and Spain also say cartera, which in much of South America means a handbag.
Variations
- A Tomás se le perdió la cartera en el mercado.