ми се случи / ми се скрши
Things That Happen to You
To say that something went wrong by accident, Macedonian makes the thing the subject and puts the person in a to-someone pronoun: Ми се скрши чашата. (I broke the glass by accident.) Што ти се случи? (What happened to you?)
How It Works
It happened to me. English often says "I broke the glass" even for an accident. Macedonian can say Ми се скрши чашата: the glass is the subject, се shows that it broke by itself, and ми shows who was affected, usually the owner or the person holding it.
Common verbs.
- Ми се скрши чашата. (I broke my glass by accident.)
- Ми се истури млекото. (I spilled the milk.)
- Ми се изгубија клучевите. (I lost my keys.)
- Му се расипа колата. (His car broke down.)
- Ми се свитка ногата. (I twisted my leg.)
Verbs without се work the same way: Ми падна телефонот. (I dropped my phone.)
Agreement. The verb matches the thing: one glass, се скрши; several glasses, се скршија. The person never changes the verb ending. Most such sentences report one event, so they use the aorist.
Се случи. The verb се случи (happen) always has се. Add a to-someone pronoun to say to whom: Ми се случи нешто чудно. Што ти се случи? Му се случи голема непријатност. (Something very unpleasant happened to him.)
Why choose it. Ја скршив чашата puts you forward as the one who broke it. Ми се скрши чашата tells the event from your side: it happened, and it happened to you. The same short pronoun also shows whose thing it was, as in possession with a to-someone pronoun. A related pattern with the present tense, ми се спие, describes an urge rather than an accident.
Examples (6)
- Ми се скрши чашата.
I broke the glass by accident.
Word by Word: To-me itself broke glass-the.
The glass is the subject; ми shows that it happened to me.
- Ми се изгубија клучевите.
I lost my keys.
Word by Word: To-me themselves lost keys-the.
Клучевите is plural, so the verb is plural: изгубија.
- Му се расипа колата на патот.
His car broke down on the road.
Word by Word: To-him itself broke car-the on road-the.
- Ми се случи нешто чудно.
Something strange happened to me.
Word by Word: To-me itself happened something strange.
- Што ти се случи?
What happened to you?
Word by Word: What to-you itself happened?
- Ми падна телефонот во водата.
I dropped my phone in the water.
Word by Word: To-me fell phone-the in water-the.
Падне has no се here, but the pattern is the same.
Common Mistakes
Making the verb agree with the person.
Ми се скршив чашата.Ми се скрши чашата.The glass is the subject, so the verb has the he, she or it ending. Ми already shows who was affected.
Keeping a singular verb with a plural thing.
Ми се изгуби клучевите.Ми се изгубија клучевите.Клучевите is plural, so the verb must be plural too.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Things that happen to you combine possessive pronouns and ми се.
Related Patterns
- ми / ти / му / ѝ / ни / ви / имShort To-Someone Pronouns
The pronouns that name the person it happened to.
Level 2 - се продаваThe Passive with Се
Another use of се where the thing, not the doer, is the subject.
Level 3 - се смее / се плаши / се надеваVerbs That Always Take Се
Се случи is one of the verbs that always take се.
Level 3 - The Aorist Past
These sentences usually report a single event with the aorist.
Level 2
Words in This Pattern
Practice ми се случи / ми се скрши in Bubblegum
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