Se me cayó= It fell on me?

[Anjelo]

I often hear phrases like:

Se + (me,te,le...) + verb

por ejempo:

Se me cayó= It fell on me

Se= Itself
Me cayó= fell on me


What form is this called and what is the correct use or meaning behind it?

[switch007]

I'm not entirely sure but you might be able to pick it out from this page: http://www.mepsyd.es/redele/revista3/lidia_lozano.shtml

Would that not be "I dropped it" (but it wasnt my fault) ? I think this construction is quite common and is described on that page under section 8 "SE ACCIDENTAL"

[Pippa]

I often hear phrases like:

Se + (me,te,le...) + verb

por ejempo:

Se me cayó= It fell on me

Se= Itself
Me cayó= fell on me


What form is this called and what is the correct use or meaning behind it?
I am afraid you have the groupings wrong:

Se cayó = it fell
Me = a mi ( ‘me’ is the indirect complement)
But in English you have to change the construction so’I’ is the subject, so like switch007 says, it is: I dropped it
In this case the verb is ‘caerse’
Yo me caí – I fell over
(Ella) se cayó y se torció el tobillo – She fell over and twisted her ankle

[Anjelo]

Wow it is much more complicated than I thought. I will go over that link but there's too much to digest.

Entonces:
se me cayó= I dropped it (Se me cayó la cartera)
se cayó a mi = It fell on me ( La rama se cayó a mi)

Any tips or tricks to get this form right?

[Pippa]

Wow it is much more complicated than I thought. I will go over that link but there's too much to digest.

Entonces:
se me cayó= I dropped it (Se me cayó la cartera)
se cayó a mi = It fell on me ( La rama se cayó a mi)

Any tips or tricks to get this form right?

Se cayó sobre mí .- It fell on me

[Kralizec]

It's more usual, at least in Spain, to say "se me cayó encima".
Se me cayó. -> I dropped it (only for accidentally dropping something).
Lo dejé caer. -> "I left it fall" -> I dropped it (not accidental).
Se me cayó encima. -> It fell on me.

[Robertito]

I often hear phrases like:

Se + (me,te,le...) + verb

por ejempo:

Se me cayó= It fell on me

Se= Itself
Me cayó= fell on me


What form is this called and what is the correct use or meaning behind it?

The way I understand this construction for stuff accidentally happening is this.

Se me cayó -> It fell to me (The object fell on it's on and it just decided to happen to me)
Se me quebró -> It broke to me (The object broke and it just decided to happen to me)

So that the object takes the blame for whatever happened and you are just passively involved in the situation.

[Legazpi]

I think the best translation to English is:

Se me cayó - it fell/slipped from me

Another common one is:

Se me olvidó - it slipped (from) my mind

In both cases it is the thing that was dropped/forgotten that did the slipping, rather than you doing the dropping/forgetting, so you can in no way be held responsible. :rolleyes:

[markoCR]

Another example would be "se me escapó" for if you say something you probably shouldn't have or didn't mean to say :D: "It just slipped out."

[gary]

Se me cayó pagar.

Woud this translate as "It fell to me to pay"

[Urgellenk]

I think "se me cayó pagar" does not exist in Spanish.

You could say "me tocó pagar".