Two reflexive 'se's in a sentence

Discussion in 'Grammar & Pronunciation' started by Polednikova, Oct 21, 2008.

  1. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    What do you do when you have two verbs in a sentence, both of which have se?

    For example: I am looking forward to hearing about your work.

    Is it: těším se se doslechnout o Vaší práci or těším se doslechnout se o Vaší práci or do you leave out the second se?

    Although doslechnout se might not be the best verb to use - and I would be interested to hear if there's a better one I should use - there will be other instances when you want to use two 'se verbs'. How do you do it?
     
  2. Alena

    Alena Well-Known Member

    In your sentence I'd rather use:
    Těším se, až uslyším o Vaší práci.
    Těším se, až mi budete vyprávět o Vaší práci.
    Těším se, až se dozvím více o Vaší práci.

    Těším se, až...
    Těším se, že...

    Use of 'doslechnout':
    Doslechl jsem se o Vaší práci, musí být zajímavá.
    I've heard of your work, it should have been interesting.
     
  3. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    Thanks for that, Alena. I'll use one of those and try to think of another occasion when you would want to use two 'se' verbs.

    If I might just improve one of your sentences:

    Use of 'doslechnout':
    Doslechl jsem se o Vaší práci, musí být zajímavá.
    I've heard of your work, it must be interesting.
     
  4. Alena

    Alena Well-Known Member

    Díky :D
     
  5. Wicker808

    Wicker808 Well-Known Member

    Hi Polednikova

    I asked a similar question a while back. A better illustration of the problem might be:

    Snažím se učit se čínsky.

    It is my understanding that the second reflexive pronoun can be omitted, unless that would cause confusion.
     
  6. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    Thanks, Wicker. That makes sense. The se goes in the second position after the verb it refers to.
     
  7. Eleshar

    Eleshar Well-Known Member

    More complicated question than it seems. Although the verb "těšit se" is always with a preposition (těším se na tebe) or a a separate clause (těším se, až/že...), thare are actually reflexive verbs that come with infinitives. And those infinitives can be also reflexive verbs:

    bát se / odvážit se (= fear/dare) + inf. (smát se = laugh)

    Althought it is grammatically correct only with both "se", asi in:
    Bál se smát se (He was afraid of taking walks)

    one can very often encounter sentences as:
    *Bál se smát
    where "se" is something like combined direct object for both verbs This is essentially incorrect but used quite frequently, mostly in spoken Czech.
    However - this may occur even with verbs that do not necessarily have the reflexive pronoun: procházet se ( = take a walk x procházet = go through), zabít se ( = kill oneself x zabít = kill)
    Bál se procházet se ( = he was afraid to take walks)
    Bál se procházet ( = he was afraid to go through)
    *Bál se procházet ( = he was afraid to take walks)

    Bál se zabít se ( = He was afraid to kill himself)
    Bál se zabít ( = He was afraid to kill)
    *Bál se zabít ( = He was afraid to kill himself)


    Here you see that if you use the non grammatical form, there can be misunderstanding as it may well be interpreted as a completely grammatical sentence with different meaning.
     
  8. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    Crikey. Thanks very much for that, Eleshar. I will print it off and study it carefully.
     
  9. Anna683

    Anna683 Well-Known Member

    That is really useful, Eleshar. Thank you.

    Can you have two verbs in the same sentence, one taking "se" and the other "si" (e.g. chystat se + koupit si), and, if so, how should se/si be positioned?
     
  10. bibax

    bibax Well-Known Member

    Chystá se koupit si ...

    but

    Petr se chystá koupit si ...
    Řekl, že se chystá koupit si ...
     
  11. Alexx

    Alexx Well-Known Member

    Sešel se se sestrou :)
     
  12. bibax

    bibax Well-Known Member

    Nesnese se se sestrou. :p
     
  13. GlennInFlorida

    GlennInFlorida Well-Known Member

    and if you were, you probably could not say that without getting tongue-tied :wink:
     

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