"se" passive, no fault,

[philip mitchell]

Rompi la mesa. (i broke the table). I don't understand why it could be implied that it was done on purpose. Se me rompio la mesa. (i broke the table, the table broke). It just seems most direct to say, "yo rompi la mesa".

[Matthew]

Thanks for your note, and I apologise for the delay in replying.

This is a very interesting point, and really comes down to the speaker’s attitude to the breakage. It’s not so much that the speaker broke the table ‘on purpose’. It’s more that it broke ‘on its own’. There’s an implication that the speaker was just standing around, and suddenly the table broke. It’s a construction that children use a lot, because they want to avoid the blame.

‘Rompí la mesa’ is a perfectly good sentence if you are happy to accept the blame for breaking the table!

I hope this helps, but if you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me, either through the forum, or on [e-mail].

Best regards

Matthew