While learning languages you often come across something that takes a lot of study, for me it´s reflexive verbs. I just don´t understand the use of it and for me the reflexive verbs gets mixed up with objects(Le,la,lo,las,los). I just simply want to know why they use SE in this sentence:
pero no se me ocurría nada más. (why not: pero no me ocurría nada más)?
I always like the see the full sentence just in case I steer someone the wrong way with only part of the question, but we should be fine here.
A few points beforehand:
Reflexives take a long time, the reflexive se, impersonal se, indirect object se, and the direct and indirect objects can all run together and get very confusing. They still bother me, especially during use (reading less so). More problematic, they, like pronouns, tend to me overused in Spanish to the point of redundancy or even where totally unnecessary according to “logic.”
You “should” be able to say “pero no me ocurría nada más,” but you can’t. you have to say “no se me ocurría nada más,” because the thing is not occurring to itself “no se ocurría” and then to you. the reflexive is ocurirse. The “me” is the object here. Same as “I forgot my passport” (se me olvido mi pasaporte) it forgot itself to me.
File this lesson under “stupid things in foreign languages that you just have to get used to.”