se

See also: Appendix:Variations of "se"

Languages (103)

Abinomn • Afrikaans • Albanian • Bavarian • Bonan • Breton • Catalan • Central Huasteca Nahuatl • Central Nahuatl • Cimbrian • Coatepec Nahuatl • Czech • Dalmatian • Danish • Dimasa • Esperanto • Ewe • Fala • Faroese • Fijian • Finnish • Franco-Provençal • French • Galician • Garo • German Low German • Gun • Haitian Creole • Hungarian • Ido • Ingrian • Interlingua • Istriot • Italian • Jamaican Creole • Japanese • Kalasha • Karelian • Kven • Ladin • Lashi • Latin • Ligurian • Livonian • Lower Sorbian • Luxembourgish • Malay • Maltese • Mandarin • Middle Dutch • Middle English • Middle French • Middle Low German • Mpade • Neapolitan • Nheengatu • North Frisian • Northern Kurdish • Norwegian Bokmål • Old English • Old French • Old Frisian • Old Irish • Old Polish • Old Saxon • Old Swedish • Ometepec Nahuatl • Pennsylvania German • Phalura • Pilagá • Pipil • Polish • Portuguese • Romagnol • Romanian • Romansch • Rwanda-Rundi • Samoan • Serbo-Croatian • Sicilian • Slovene • Spanish • Sranan Tongo • Swedish • Tagalog • Talysh • Tarantino • Ternate • Tocharian A • Tocharian B • Turkish • Tuvaluan • Veps • Vietnamese • Volapük • Votic • Welsh • West Frisian • Wutunhua • Yoruba • Zazaki

Page categories

Translingual

Symbol

se

(international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Northern Sami.

English

Etymology

From Mandarin 瑟 (sè).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛ/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛ

Noun

se (plural ses)

(music) A type of ancient Chinese plucked zither.

Translations

See se/translations § Noun.

Anagrams

'e's, -es, E's, ES, Es, E♭s, E♯s, e's, es, es-

Abinomn

Noun

se

cloud

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

s'n (used without a following noun)
syn (obsolete)

Etymology

From Dutch zijn, z'n (“his, its”). An Afrikaans innovation is the use of se regardless of the number or gender of the possessor, which may be due to a merger with the Dutch genitive suffix -s as well as, perhaps, the adjective suffix -s, -sch.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sə/
Audio: (file)

Particle

se

follows a noun to indicate that this noun possesses that which follows, much like English 's
Hierdie is my ouma se huis. — This is my grandmother’s house.

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *tśe(i), *tśi from Proto-Indo-European *kʷe-, *kʷ(e)i- (“how, what”). Interrogative and relative pronoun, especially in connection with a preposition.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛ/

Conjunction

se

that, as, when
Më duket se ke nevojë për disa shokë të rinj. — It seems to me that you need some new friends.

Vëllai im më tha se don të bisedojë me ty rreth librit të ri. — My brother told me that he wants to talk to you about the new book.

Related terms

si
sa

Bavarian

Alternative forms

's (unstressed form)

Etymology

Cognate with German sie.

Pronoun

se

she, her (accusative)
they, them

Synonyms

de

Bonan

Etymology

From Proto-Mongolic *usun.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sə/

Noun

se

water

References

Üjiyediin Chuluu (Chaolu Wu), Introduction, Grammar, and Sample Sentences for Baoan, SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS (Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA), November 1994
Henry G. Schwarz, The Minorities of Northern China: A Survey (1984), page 140: 'water' Daur os

Breton

Pronoun

se

that, this
Petra eo se? — What's that?

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin sē.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /sə/
(Valencia, Alghero) IPA^(key): /se/

Pronoun

se (enclitic, contracted 's, proclitic es, contracted proclitic s')

himself, herself, itself (direct or indirect object)
oneself (direct or indirect object)
themselves (direct or indirect object)
each other (direct or indirect object)

Usage notes

-se is the full (plena) form of the pronoun. It is normally used after verbs ending with a consonant or ⟨u⟩, or between some adverbs/pronouns and a verb. In some varieties of Catalan (Balearic/Valencian) it can also occur in sentence-initial position.
The use of se and other direct personal pronouns can indicate the passive in Catalan.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

	strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi³	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic¹	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal¹	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal²	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’⁴	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal²	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial
ablative/genitive		en, n’	-ne, ’n
locative		hi	-hi
¹⁾ Behaves grammatically as plural. ²⁾ Behaves grammatically as third person.			³⁾ Only as object of a preposition. ⁴⁾ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Central Huasteca Nahuatl

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [se]

Numeral

se

one (number).

Central Nahuatl

Numeral

se

one.

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

ze (Sette Comuni)

Etymology

From Middle High German si(e) (“they”), merged from Old High German sie m pl, sio f pl, siu n pl, from Proto-Germanic *īz m, *ijôz f, *ijō n, the nominative plural forms of *iz. Cognate with German sie, Dutch zij.

Pronoun

se

(Luserna) they

Inflection

Personal pronouns
	singular	plural
1st person	i	biar
2nd person	du	iar
3rd person	er, si, 'z	se

References

“se” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

Coatepec Nahuatl

Numeral

se

one.

Czech

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈsɛ]
Audio: (file)

Etymology 1

From Old Czech sě, from Proto-Slavic *sę, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *sen, from Proto-Indo-European *swé.

Pronoun

se (reflexive)

clitic accusative of sebe:
oneself

myself

yourself

himself

herself

itself

ourselves

yourselves

themselves

Synonym: (stressed) sebe

Related terms

Czech personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		já	my
2nd person	familiar	ty	vy
2nd person	polite	vy	vy
3rd person	m	on	oni*
	f	ona	ony
	n	ono	ona
reflexive		sebe, se (clitic)
* animate referents only, for inanimate ones ony is used.

Etymology 2

Preposition

se (also s)

with

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin sē.

Pronoun

se

(reflexive pronoun) oneself

Danish

Etymology

From Old Danish se, from Old Norse (East) *sēa, (Old Norse (West) sjá), from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną, cognate with English see, German sehen, from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to see, notice”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈseˀ]
Rhymes: -eːˀ

Verb

se (imperative se, infinitive at se, present tense ser, past tense så, perfect tense har set)

to see
(reciprocal passive) to see each other

Conjugation

Inflection of se

	present	past
simple	ser	så
perfect	har set	havde set
passive	ses	sås
participle	seende	set
imperative	se	—
infinitive	se	—
auxiliary verb	have	—
gerund	seen	—

reciprocal

Inflection of se

	present	past
simple	ses	sås
perfect	har sets or setes	havde sets or setes
passive	—	—
participle	-	sets or setes
imperative	-	—
infinitive	ses	—
auxiliary verb	have	—
gerund	—	—

Dimasa

Numeral

sé

one

Esperanto

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian se, influenced by French si and Latin sī.

Pronunciation

Audio: (file)

IPA^(key): [se]
Hyphenation: se

Conjunction

se

if

Ewe

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛ/

Noun

se (plural sewo)

law

Fala

Alternative forms

si

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese se, sse, from Latin sē.

Pronoun

se

Used for passive constructions with transitive verbs and undetermined agent; one
- 2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Theme II, Chapter 2: Recunquista:
  Non poemos analizar con pormenoris estis siglos, pero tampoco se debi toleral que, sin fundamentus, se poña en duda algo que a Historia documentá nos lega sobre nossa terra.
  We can’t thoroughly analyse these centuries, but one mustn’t tolerate that, unfoundedly, something documented history tells us about our land be questioned [by someone].
Reflexive and reciprocal pronoun: oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, yourself; each other, one another
- 2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Anexu: A Porcá:
  Cumían algu de herba por camiñus, se bañaban i os devulvían a casa por as tardis.
  They ate some pasture along the way, bathed themselves and were returned to their home in the afternoon.

Usage notes

Takes the form -si when suffixed to an impersonal verb form.

References

Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[1], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

Faroese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/

Noun

se n (genitive singular ses, plural se)

The name of the Latin-script letter C/c.

Declension

Declension of se
n4	singular		plural
n4	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	se	seið	se	seini
accusative	se	seið	se	seini
dative	se, sei	senum	seum	seunum
genitive	ses	sesins	sea	seanna

Fijian

Conjunction

se

whether, or.

Noun

se

flower
gills

Finnish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe. For plural forms, see etymology of ne.

The variation in inflectional stems (se-, si-, sii-,) dates back to at least Late Proto-Finnic. The oblique stem si-, seen in most inflected forms, is also found in other Finnic languages, such as the following cognates of the partitive singular sitä: Karelian sitä, Livvi sittäh, Veps sidä, Votic sitä. This is possibly a remnant of the original expected form **si (due to final e > i) which was reversed in some forms, possibly as influence from the plural ne.

The stem sii-, seen in internal locative case forms may have been generalized from the plural forms as a means to distinguish from partitive/essive sitä, sinä; expected internal locative cases **sissä, **sistä may have been avoided as a dissimilation. Compare Veps siš (inessive singular of se).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈs̠e̞]
Rhymes: -e
Syllabification^(key): se

Pronoun

se

(demonstrative) that (when the speaker does not point at the thing, either physically or mentally; compare tuo, see usage notes)
Älä koske siihen!
Don't touch that! (something located close to the speaker)

Sitäkö sinä sillä tarkoitit?
That's what you meant by that?
(demonstrative) it
Onko se hän, joka on ovella?
Is it her who's at the door?

Ota kortti ja pane se pöydälle kuvapuoli alaspäin.
Take a card and put it on the table face down.

Kukas se sieltä tulee?
Who's it coming over there?
the one (who, what, which) (always with a relative clause)
Se, jolla on eniten pisteitä, on voittaja.
The one who has the most points is the winner.

Joka kuritta kasvaa, se kunniatta kuolee.
[The one] who grows up without discipline dies without honor.
(colloquial or dialectal) he, she, one, (singular) they (the pronoun does not determine the sex/gender of the person)
Se vaan lähti.
He just left.

Determiner

se

that (not pointed at by the speaker; compare tuo, see usage notes)
Sen auton pakoputki on rikki.
That car has a broken exhaust.

Onko sinulla vielä sitä jäätelöä?
Do you still have some of that ice cream?
(colloquial) the (as a definite article; see the usage notes below)

Usage notes

Both tuo and se can be translated as "that"; see tuo for more information on the difference between the two.
In colloquial and dialectal Finnish, se is the usual and neutral personal pronoun in the third person singular, and its standard Finnish counterpart hän is restricted to certain particular uses. Using se of a person carries no negative connotation.
Due to the influence of Germanic languages, and nowadays especially to that of English, se may often be used as a kind of definite article in colloquial Finnish, though in standard Finnish, where word order expresses whether something is definite or indefinite, this colloquial usage is ungrammatical. (Compare the usage of yksi.)
(standard)
Mies tuli luokseni. ― The man came to me.

Luokseni tuli mies. ― A man came to me.

(colloquial)
Se mies tuli mun luokse. ― The man came to me.

Yks mies tuli mun luokse. ― A man came to me.

Inflection

Irregular (singular stems: se-, si-, sii-, plural stems: ne-, nii-).

Declension of se

noun case	singular	plural	adverbial form	singular	plural
nominative	se	ne	superessive	siellä	–
genitive	sen	niiden, niitten	delative	sieltä	–
partitive	sitä	niitä	sublative	sinne	–
accusative	se, sen	ne	lative	siis	–
inessive	siinä	niissä	temporal	silloin	–
elative	siitä	niistä	causative	siten	–
illative	siihen	niihin	multiplicative	–	–
adessive	sillä	niillä	distributive	–	–
ablative	siltä	niiltä	temp. dist.	–	–
allative	sille	niille	prolative	–	–
essive	sinä	niinä	situative	–	–
translative	siksi	niiksi	oppositive	–	–
abessive	–	(niittä)
instructive	–	(niin)
comitative	–	niine

Synonyms

(he or she): hän
see (rare, dialectal (Southwestern Finnish))

Derived terms

Descendants

Kven: se

Etymology 2

Akin to tseh.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈse(ˣ)/, [ˈs̠e̞(ʔ)]
Rhymes: -e
Syllabification^(key): se

Interjection

se (dialectal)

here you go; an encouragement to take something, usually something that is being handed over.
an encouragement to an animal to eat (food)

Usage notes

Despite being an interjection, some verb-like forms can also be found (sehkää).

Alternative forms

seh

Anagrams

es

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

From Latin sī.

Conjunction

se (prevocalic s') (ORB, broad)

if

Derived terms

se vos plét

References

si [1] in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
se in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Etymology

From Middle French se, from Old French se, from Latin sē. See also soi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sə/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -ə
Homophone: ce

Pronoun

se m or f (pre-vocalic s’)

The third-person reflexive and reciprocal direct and indirect object pronoun.
1. (to) himself
2. (to) herself
3. (to) oneself
4. (to) itself
5. (to) themselves
6. (to) each other
(Louisiana) The second-person plural reflexive and reciprocal direct and indirect object pronoun.
Je suis partie à la chasse et faut vous autres se comportes bien. ― I'm going hunting and y'all need to behave yourselves.

Usage notes

Se becomes s’ before a vowel or unaspirated h, and sometimes, in nonstandard writing, in other cases where the e would be silent, e.g. in lyrics.
Se is often used with an actual subject, but it is also very often used with an abstract subject:
Il est normal de se parler. — It is normal to talk to oneself.

Derived terms

s’en aller

Related terms

French personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative (subject)	Accusative (direct complement)	Dative (indirect complement)	Locative (at)	Genitive (of)	Disjunctive (tonic)
Singular	First	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi
	Second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi
	Third	Masculine	il	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui
		Feminine	elle	la, l’	lui	y	en	elle
		Indeterminate	on¹	—	—	—	—	—
		Reflexive	—	se, s’⁴		—	—	soi⁴
Plural	First	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous
	Second	—	vous²	vous²^,3		—	—	vous²
	Third	Masculine	ils³	les	leur	y	en	eux³
	Third	Feminine	elles	les	leur	y	en	elles

¹ Also used as the first person plural.

² Also used as the polite singular form.

³ Also used when a group has both men and women.

⁴ Also used as third person plural reflexive.

Anagrams

es, ès

Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese se (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin sī.

Conjunction

se

if

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Alternative forms

xe

Pronoun

se

accusative/dative of si
The third-person reflexive pronoun.
1. (to) himself
2. (to) herself
3. (to) oneself
4. (to) itself
5. (to) themselves
6. (to) each other

References

Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “se”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “se”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “se”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

se

husband

German Low German

Alternative forms

sei

Etymology

From Middle Low German sê, variously from Old Saxon sia and Old Saxon siu, ultimately developed from forms of Proto-Germanic *hiz and possibly influenced by Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zeː/, /seː/, /zɛɪ/, /sɛɪ/

Pronoun

se

she
Se is Anke. — She is Anke (Annie).

Pronoun

se

they
Se kaamt ut Bremen. — They come from Bremen.
- 1861, G. Ungt, Twee Geschichten in Mönstersk Platt. Ollmanns Jans in de Friümde un Ollmanns Jans up de Reise, page 163:
  Dao gävven⁵ sick de Beiden dann auk an, datt se wier by ähr keimen.⁶
  ⁵ gaben – gaben sich an – strengten sich an. ⁶ zu ihnen kamen.

Gun

Etymology

From Proto-Gbe *se (“to hear”). Cognates include Fon sè (“to understand, hear, feel”), Saxwe Gbe sè (“to hear”), Adja sè (“to understand, hear, feel, respond”), Ewe se (“to hear”)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sè/

Verb

sè

to hear, to listen
to understand

Derived terms

sètónú (“to obey”)

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French c’est (“it is”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Verb

se

to be
that is (compare French c'est)
it is (compare French c'est)

Usage notes

Use ye at the end of a clause.
This word does not appear when the predicate is an adjective or prepositional phrase, except when the preposition in the prepositional phrase is pou (“for”) or tankou (“like”).

References

[3]

Hungarian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈʃɛ]
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -ʃɛ

Conjunction

se (clitic)

Alternative form of sem.

Derived terms

Compound words

Expressions

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/, /sɛ/

Etymology 1

From Esperanto se.

Conjunction

se

if
La klerko komencus laborar se ilu povus. — The clerk would begin to work if he could.

Se me povus, me komprus altra domo. — If I could, I would buy another house.

Etymology 2

From s +‎ -e.

Noun

se (plural se-i)

The name of the Latin script letter S/s.

Ingrian

Alternative forms

see (dialectal)

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *se. Cognates include Finnish se and Estonian see.

Pronunciation

(Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈs̠e̞]
(Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈʃe̞]
Rhymes: -e
Hyphenation: se
Homophone: že

Pronoun

se

this, that (not bound to a specific location)
- 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 63:
  Linnuille höö siihe kagraa siputtiit.
  They sprinkled oats onto it for the birds.
- 1936, L. G. Terehova, V. G. Erdeli, translated by Mihailov and P. I. Maksimov, Geografia: oppikirja iƶoroin alkușkoulun kolmatta klaassaa vart (ensimäine osa), Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 7:
  Inmihiset panniit merkille i sen, etti kaik predmetat päivääl, päivytpaiston aikanna, viskajaat kupahaiset.
  People noticed this as well, that all objects during the day, being a sunny time, cast shadows.
(dialectal) that (distal)
- 2008, “Läkkäämmä omal viisii [We're speaking [our] own way]”, in Inkeri‎^[4], volume 4, number 69, St. Petersburg, page 12:
  Tämä on Logoven kylä, a se ono Reppoilan kylä.
  This is the village Logovi, and that is the village Reppoila.

Determiner

se

this, that (not bound to a specific location)
- 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 40:
  Peen tulo saatii siint pellost.
  A small income was received from this field.
(dialectal) that (distal)

Usage notes

Se and neet are anaphoric: That is to say they refer to something previously mentioned (or soon afterwards mentioned) in the conversation. In contrast, too and noo are deictic, and thus refer to physical entities.
Although Junus (1936; p. 99) describes sen as the accusative and senen as the genitive, in practice, sen is often used as a short form of the genitive as well.
In the Soikkola dialect, the functions of too (“that”) have merged into se.

Declension

Declension of se
	singular	plural
nominative	se	neet
genitive	senen	niijen
accusative	sen	neet
partitive	sitä	niitä
illative	siihe	niihe
inessive	siin	niis
elative	siint, siitä	niist
allative	sille	niille
adessive	sil	niil
ablative	silt	niilt
translative	siks	niiks
essive	senennä	niinnä

Derived terms

References

V. I. Junus (1936) Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka‎^[5], Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 99
Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 514
Olga I. Konkova, Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014) Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку‎^[6], →ISBN, pages 13-14

Interlingua

Pronoun

se (third person)

Reflexive: oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves.
Illa se videva in le speculo. ― She saw herself in the mirror.
Reciprocal: each other, one another.
Quando illes se cognosceva? ― When did they meet (each other)?
Used for passive constructions with undetermined agent (translated by "one").
De mi casa se vide le mar. ― From my house the sea is seen. (Literally, “...the sea sees itself.”)
Hence, used for expressions of the type "to get/become ...-ed".
espaventar — “to frighten”; espaventar se = "to get frightened" (lit., "to frighten oneself")

Usage notes

(reflexive, reciprocal, oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, each other, one another): Many verbs bear a reflexive pronoun by default. Se must be replaced by me, te, etc., according to the subject.
infiltrar se — “to infiltrate”

repentir se — “to repent”

Istriot

Etymology

From Latin sī.

Conjunction

se

if
- 1877, Antonio Ive, Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page 99:
  Biela, se ti vedissi li galiere
  Beautiful one, if you saw the galleys

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin sī (“if”)^[1] or from Late Latin se(d), from Latin sī and quid ("what").^[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/^**
Rhymes: -e
Hyphenation: se

Conjunction

se

if
Se non è vero, è ben trovato.
If it is not true, it is a good story.
whether
if only

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Latin sē.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/^°
Rhymes: -e
Hyphenation: se

Pronoun

se

Alternative form of si

Usage notes

Used when followed by a third-person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).

Etymology 3

From Latin sīc.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/^*
Rhymes: -e
Hyphenation: se

Adverb

se

(archaic) Alternative form of così

Conjunction

se

(archaic) Alternative form of così: if (only); even if
se Dio ti lasci, lettor, prender frutto / di tua lezione ― even if God leaves you, reader, take fruit of your lesson (Dante)

Usage notes

Used to express a conditional with the implicit hope on the part of the speaker that something does or does not happen. Always followed by the subjunctive.

References

^ Angelo Prati, "Vocabolario Etimologico Italiano", Torino, 1951
^ se² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Derived from English say.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Verb

se

to say, to tell
- 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Matyu 3:7:
  Bot wen im si uol iip a piipl fram di Farisii an Sadyusii gruup a kom fi im baptaiz dem, im se tu dem se, “Unu siniek pikni unu! A uu waan unu fi ron we fram di jojment we a kom?
  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Pronoun

se

(relative) that (which, who; representing a subject, direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition)
- 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Matyu 2:22:
  Bot wen im ier se a Erad pikni, Arkelos, tek uova an did a ruul Judiya, im kech im fried an neehn waahn go de-so. An kaa Gad did waan im aaf iina wan jriim, im lef go Gyalalii insted.
  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.
  (literally, “But when he heard that Herod's child Archelaus took over and was ruling Judea […])”)

Japanese

Romanization

se

The hiragana syllable せ (se) or the katakana syllable セ (se) in Hepburn romanization.

Kalasha

Etymology

From Sanskrit स (sa), सा (sā), from Proto-Indo-European *só.

Pronoun

se

he/she/it (absent from speaker) (3rd-person personal pronoun)

Coordinate terms

áya

Karelian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsʲe/
Hyphenation: se

Determiner

se

(South Karelian) Alternative form of še

Pronoun

se

(South Karelian) Alternative form of še

References

A. V. Punzhina (1994) “se”, in Словарь карельского языка (тверские говоры) [Dictionary of the Karelian language (Tver dialects)], →ISBN

Kven

Etymology

From Finnish se, from Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈse/

Determiner

se

this, that

Pronoun

se

this, that
he, she, it

Declension

Declension of se

	singular	plural
nominative	se	net
genitive	sen	niitten, niinen
partitive	sitä	niitä
illative	siihen	niihin
inessive	siinä	niissä
elative	siitä, siittä	niistä
allative	sille, sillet	niile, niilet
adessive	sillä	niilä
ablative	siltä	niiltä
translative	sinä	niinä
essive	siksi	niiksi

Synonyms

(he, she): hän

References

Eira Söderholm (2017) Kvensk grammatikk, Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 278

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin sē.

Pronoun

se

(indefinite) one, you, we, they, people. Note: often translated using the passive voice in English.
(reflexive pronoun) oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves; (reciprocal) each other, one another. Note: With some verbs, si is not translated in English.

Lashi

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/, [sɛʔ]

Verb

se

to know
to be able to

References

Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎^[7], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *swé (reflexive pronoun).

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /seː/, [s̠eː]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /se/, [sɛː]

Pronoun

sē (accusative and ablative, no nominative)

(reflexive pronoun) the accusative of the third-person singular and plural reflexive pronoun: oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves
Vōcālis est littera quae per sē syllabam facere potest. ― A vowel is a letter that can form a syllable by itself.

Quīntus quōmodo sē habet hodiē? ― How's Quintus doing today? (literally, “is holding himself”)

In mare sē praecipitāvit. ― He drowned himself in the ocean.
(reflexive pronoun) the ablative of the third-person singular and plural reflexive pronoun

Usage notes

sēsē is very common as the emphatic form of the accusative pronoun, especially in reference to a preceding ipse, or at the beginning or the end of a clause.

Declension

Latin personal pronouns together with the possessive and reflexive pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Genitive	Dative	Accusative	Ablative	Possessive
Singular	First	—	ego	meī	mihi	mē		meus, -a, -um
	Second	—	tū	tuī	tibi	tē		tuus, -a, -um
	Reflexive third	—	—	suī	sibi	sē, sēsē		suus, -a, -um
	Third	Masculine	is	ēius	eī	eum	eō	ēius
		Feminine	ea			eam	eā
		Neuter	id			id	eō
Plural	First	—	nōs	nostrī, nostrum	nōbīs	nōs	nōbīs	noster, -tra, -trum
	Second	—	vōs	vestrī, vestrum	vōbīs	vōs	vōbīs	vester, -tra, -trum
	Reflexive third	—	—	suī	sibi	sē, sēsē		suus, -a, -um
	Third	Masculine	eī, iī	eōrum	eīs	eōs	eīs	eōrum
		Feminine	eae	eārum		eās		eārum
		Neuter	ea	eōrum		ea		eōrum

Derived terms

Descendants

Aromanian: se
Catalan: es, se
Dalmatian: se
Franco-Provençal: sè
French: se, soi
Galician: se
Italian: sé, si, -si
Ladin: se
Occitan: se
Portuguese: se
Romanian: se, sine
Sicilian: si
Spanish: se

Ligurian

Etymology

From Late Latin se(d), from Latin sī (“if”) + quid (“what”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Conjunction

se

if

Livonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe. Cognates include Finnish se and Estonian see.

Pronoun

se

that
he

Declension

Declension of se (4)

	singular (ikšlug)	plural (pǟgiņlug)
nominative (nominatīv)	se	ne
genitive (genitīv)	sīe	nänt
partitive (partitīv)	siedā	nēḑi
dative (datīv)	sīen	näntõn
instrumental (instrumentāl)	sīekõks	näntkõks
illative (illatīv)	sīezõ	nēži
inessive (inesīv)	sīesõ	nēši
elative (elatīv)	sīestõ	nēšti

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *sę.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sɛ]

Pronoun

se

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, oneself
each other, one another
used to form passives

Derived terms

se wě

References

Starosta, Manfred (1999) “se”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zə/

Pronoun

se

unstressed form of si

Declension

See Template:lb-decl-personal pronouns for declension.

Malay

**Malay cardinal numbers**
< 0	1	2 >
Cardinal : se

Alternative forms

Etymology

Shortened form of esa, from Proto-Malayic *əsa.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sə/
Rhymes: -sə, -ə

Numeral

se (Jawi spelling س)

one

Synonyms

Derived terms

se- / س-

Maltese

Root
s-j-r (going)
2 terms

Alternative forms

ser

Etymology

Sometimes thought to have been inherited from Arabic سَ (sa), from سَوْفَ (sawfa). However, it is more likely that the similarity is entirely coincidental and that Maltese se(r) is merely a shortened form of sejjer.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛ/

Particle

se

Indicates a future tense.

Mandarin

Romanization

se

Nonstandard spelling of sè.

Usage notes

Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Dutch

Pronoun

se

accusative of si (“they”)

Middle English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛː/, /seː/

Etymology 1

From Old English swē, swǣ, variants of swā (“so”). More at so.

Adverb

se

so

Etymology 2

Noun

se

Alternative form of see (“sea”)

Etymology 3

Noun

se

Alternative form of see (“see”)

Etymology 4

Pronoun

se

Alternative form of sche

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French se, from Latin sē.

Pronoun

se

The third-person reflexive and reciprocal direct object pronoun.
1. himself
2. herself
3. oneself
4. itself
5. themselves
6. each other
The third-person reflexive and reciprocal indirect object pronoun.
1. to himself
2. to herself
3. to oneself
4. to itself
5. to themselves
6. to each other
  ils se donnerent bataille ― they gave each other battle (they gave battle to each other)

Usage notes

Whether to translate as himself, herself, oneself, itself, themselves or each other depends on the gender (male, female or none) and number (singular or plural).
Usually becomes s' before a vowel. In older manuscripts, it becomes s- with no apostrophe.

Descendants

French: se

Middle Low German

Alternative forms

su, sia

Etymology

Variously from Old Saxon sia and Old Saxon siu, ultimately developed from forms of Proto-Germanic *hiz and possibly influenced by Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

Stem vowel: ê⁴
- (originally) IPA^(key): /seː/

Pronoun

sê

(third person singular female nominative) she
her (accusative of sê)
(third person plural nominative) they
them (accusative of sê)

Declension

See Template:gml-perpron for declension.

Descendants

Dutch Low Saxon: zee
German Low German: se
Plautdietsch: see

Mpade

Etymology

From Proto-Central Chadic *sa, from Proto-Chadic *sa. Cognate with Matal sa (“to drink”).

Verb

se

to drink

References

S. Allison, Makary Kotoko Provisional Lexicon (SIL)
R.C. Gravina, The Phonology of Proto-Central Chadic

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Latin sē.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sə/
Rhymes: -e

Pronoun

se

reflexive third person pronoun: oneself, himself, itself, herself, themselves etc.

References

AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 80: “si chiama” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it

Nheengatu

Etymology

From Old Tupi xe. Cognate with Guaraní che.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [se]

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Hyphenation: se
Rhymes: -e

Pronoun

se

(second-class) first-person singular personal pronoun (I, me, my)
Se akanhemu aikú nhaãsé se kirá aikú.
I am scared because I am fat.

Aé uputari upitá se irũmu.
He wants to stay with me.

Se manha uwiké uka pisasú upé.
My mother enters the new house.

Usage notes

As a second-class pronoun, se is used as the subject of a sentence when its verb is a second-class one (those verbs are sometimes referred to as adjectives). The personal pronoun se is also used when governed by any postposition with the exception of arama and supé. Finally, se is used as a possessive pronoun as well.

References

AVILA, Marcel Twardowsky (2021) Proposta de dicionário nheengatu–português, page 688
NAVARRO, Eduardo de Almeida (2016) Curso de língua geral (nheengatu ou tupi moderno): a língua das origens da civilização amazônica, 2nd edition, →ISBN, pages 11 and 108

North Frisian

Alternative forms

sä (Föhr-Amrum)
siinj (Mooring)

Etymology

From Old Frisian siā, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sɛ]

Verb

se

(Sylt) to see

Conjugation

Conjugation of se (Sylt dialect)

	present	past
infinitive I	se
infinitive II	(tö) sen
past participle	sen
imperative	se
1st singular	se	saag
2nd singular	sjochst	saagst
3rd singular	sjocht	saag
plural / dual	se	saag
	perfect	pluperfect
1st singular	haa sen	her sen
2nd singular	heest sen	herst sen
3rd singular	heer sen	her sen
plural / dual	haa sen	her sen
	future (skel)	future (wel)
1st singular	skel se	wel se
2nd singular	sket se	wet se
3rd singular	skel se	wel se
plural / dual	skel se	wel se

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

An early loan from Middle Persian [script needed] (sg /⁠sag⁠/), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ. Akin to native sipe.

Noun

Central Kurdish	سەگ (seg)

se m

dog

Synonyms

kûçik

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Danish se, from Old Norse sjá, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -eː
Hyphenation: se
Homophones: C, c

Verb

se (imperative se, present tense ser, passive ses or sees, simple past så, past participle sett, present participle seende)

to see (perceive with the eyes).

Derived terms

References

“se” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Old English

Alternative forms

þē — late nom. masc. sg. form
þē — Mercian
sæ, ðē, ðæ — Northumbrian

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *siz, replacing earlier *sā, from Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/

Article

sē

the
sē mōna ― the moon

sēo sunne ― the sun

þæt seofonstierre ― the Pleiades

þā steorran ― the stars

Determiner

sē

that
Sele mē þone hamor.
Give me that hammer.

Pronoun

sē

that
Hē fōr hām, and æfter þām ne ġeseah iċ hine nǣfre mā.
He went home, and after that I never saw him again.
the one / that one
Hēo nis sēo þe þū oferreċċan þearft.
She's not the one you need to convince.

Rǣtst þū nū þās bōc oþþe þā?
Are you reading this book right now or that one?

Hwæðer is þīn, þē þæt swearte hors þē þæt hwīte?
Which one is yours, the black horse or the white one?
(relative) that, who, what, which
- late 9th century, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History
  Đa was on þā tīd Æðelbyrht cyning hāten on Centrīċe, ⁊ mihtiġ: hē hæfde rīċe ōð ġemæro Humbre strēames, sē tōsċēadeð sūðfolce Angelþēode ⁊ nordfolc.
  At that time the powerful Athelbert was king of the kingdom of Kent; his authority extended to the boundary of the Humber, which divides the southern English from the northern English.
Ne biþ eall þæt glitnaþ nā gold.
Not everything that glitters is gold.

Usage notes

The word "the" was used somewhat more sparingly in Old English than in the modern language. One reason is, English had only recently developed a word for "the" (sē previously only meant "that"), leaving many nouns and phrases which had a definite meaning but which people continued to use without a definite article out of custom. Examples of words which usually went without the word "the" include:
- Names of peoples, such as Engle (“the Angles”), Seaxan (“the Saxons”), and Crēcas (“the Greeks”). Ġelīefst þū þæt Dene magon bēon oferswīðde? (“Do you believe the Danes can be defeated?”).
- All river names. On Temese flēat ān sċip (“A boat was floating on the Thames”).
- A few nouns denoting types of locations, namely sǣ (“the sea”), wudu (“the woods”), and eorþe (“the ground”). Þū fēolle on eorðan and slōge þīn hēafod (“You fell on the ground and hit your head”). Note that eorþe was often used with a definite article when it meant "the Earth."
- "the world," whether expressed with weorold or middanġeard. Iċ eom æt hām on ealre weorolde, þǣr þǣr sind wolcnu and fuglas and mennisċe tēaras (“I feel at home in the whole world, where there are clouds and birds and human tears”).
- A couple of abstract concepts, namely sōþ (“the truth”) and ǣ (“the law”). Iċ seċġe ēow sōþ, þæt iċ swerie (“I'm telling you the truth, I swear”).
- Dryhten (“the Lord”).
- morgen (“the morning”) and ǣfen (“the evening”). Iċ ārās on lætne morgen and ēode niðer (“I got up late in the morning and went downstairs”).
- The four seasons, lencten (“spring”), sumor (“summer”), hærfest (“fall”), and winter (“winter”). On sumore hit biþ wearm and on wintra ċeald (“In the summer it's warm and in the winter it's cold”).
- forþġewitennes (“the past”), andweardnes (“the present”), and tōweardnes (“the future”). Þā þe forðġewitennesse ġemunan ne magon, hīe bēoþ ġeniðrode hīe tō ġeedlǣċenne (“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”).
- forma sīþ (“the first time”), ōþer sīþ (“the second time”), etc. Hwæt þōhtest þū þā þū mē forman sīðe ġemēttest? (“What did you think when you met me for the first time?”).
- þīestra (“the dark”). Iċ āwēox, ac iċ nǣfre ne ġeswāc mē þīestra tō ondrǣdenne (“I grew up, but I never stopped being scared of the dark”).
- Genitive phrases could include the word "the" before the head noun, but most often did not. Instead, genitive phrases were commonly formed like possessive phrases in modern English, with the genitive noun preceding the head noun ("John's car," not "the car of John"). Thus “the fall of Rome” was Rōme hryre, literally “Rome's fall,” and “the god of fire” was fȳres god, literally “fire's god.”

Declension

Declension of se

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	sē, þē	sēo, þēo	þæt
Accusative	þone	þā	þæt
Genitive	þæs	þǣre	þæs
Dative	þām, þǣm	þǣre	þām, þǣm
Instrumental	þon, þȳ, þē	þǣre	þon, þȳ, þē
	Plural
Nominative		þā
Accusative		þā
Genitive		þāra
Dative		þām, þǣm
Instrumental		þām, þǣm

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:se.

Descendants

Middle English: se, ze, sæ

Old French

Etymology 1

From Latin sē.

Alternative forms

sei
soi

Pronoun

se m or f (invariable)

himself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
herself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
itself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
oneself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
themselves (reflexive direct and indirect third-person plural pronoun)

Descendants

French: se

Etymology 2

From Latin si.

Conjunction

se

if
then (afterwards; following)

Descendants

French: si

Old Frisian

Pronoun

se

she
they

Old Irish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sʲe]

Determiner

se

Alternative form of so used after palatalized consonants and front vowels

Old Polish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /sɛ/
IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /sɛ/

Preposition

se

Alternative form of z

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛː/

Article

sē m (demonstrative)

definite article: the
sē māno ― the moon
demonstrative adjective: that, those
Hē gaf thē gift. ― He gave that gift.

Declension

Declension of sē

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
nominative	sē	that	sīu	thē
accusative	than	that	thē	thē
genitive	thēs	thēs	thēra	thēra
dative	thēm	thēm	thēra	thēm
instrumental	thiu, thia, thuo, thuru		-

Old Swedish

Verb

se

first-person singular present active subjunctive of vara
second-person singular present active subjunctive of vara
third-person singular present active subjunctive of vara
third-person plural singular present active subjunctive of vara

Ometepec Nahuatl

Adjective

se

one.

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sə/

Pronoun

se

she, her

Declension

Pennsylvania German personal pronouns

	1st person	2nd person familiar	2nd person polite/formal	3rd person			1st person	2nd person	3rd person
	singular						plural
	1st person	2nd person familiar	2nd person polite/formal	m	f	n	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
nominative	ich	du de¹	dihr der¹ Sie	er	sie se¹	es	mir mer¹	dihr der¹	sie
dative	mir mer¹	dir der¹	eich Ihne Ne¹	ihm em¹	ihre re¹	ihm em¹	uns	eich	ihne ne¹
accusative	mich	dich	eich Sie	ihn en¹	sie se¹	es	uns	eich	sie

¹unstressed

Phalura

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Determiner

se (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling سےۡ)

the
that (agr: rem fem / rem non-nom masc)

References

Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “se”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[8], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Determiner

se (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling سےۡ)

the
those (agr: rem)

References

Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “se”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[9], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Pronoun

se (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling سےۡ)

it
she (rem fem nom)

References

Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “se”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[10], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 4

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Pronoun

se (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling سےۡ)

they (rem nom)

References

Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “se”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[11], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Pilagá

Pronoun

se

I
se-take ― I want

References

2001, Alejandra Vidal, quoted in Subordination in Native South-American Languages

Pipil

**Pipil cardinal numbers**
< 0	1	2 >
Cardinal : sē Ordinal : achtu Adverbial : seujti Distributive : sejsē ika

Etymology

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *sɨmayV. Compare Classical Nahuatl ce (“one”). Cognate with Hopi suukya' (“one”), Shoshone seme' (“one”), Cahuilla súplli (“one”), and O'odham hema (“one”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈseː/

Numeral

sē

one
Nikneki semaya se
I want only one

Article

sē

a, indefinite article
Tikitat se tekulut tik ne kwajkwawit
We saw an owl in the trees

Pronoun

sē

someone, something, indefinite pronoun
Walajsik se ina ka metzishmati
Someone came who said she/he knows you

Se anmejemet nemi pal yawi pal kikua ne takwal
One of you has to go to buy the food

Ne nunan nechmakak se anmupal
My mom gave me something for you all

Polish

Etymology

Contraction of sobie.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -ɛ
Syllabification: se

Pronoun

se

(colloquial, sometimes proscribed) (dative, weak form) oneself, myself, yourself, itself, etc.
Synonym: sobie

Daj se z tym spokój.
Give it a break.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /si/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /se/

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨ/

Homophones: si (Brazil), cê (South Brazil)
Hyphenation: se

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese sse, se, from Latin sē.

Pronoun

se m or f by sense

third-person singular and plural reflexive pronoun; himself; herself; itself; themselves
Ela se viu no espelho.
She saw herself in the mirror.
(nonstandard, colloquial, Brazil, highly proscribed) first-person singular reflexive pronoun; myself
Synonym: (standard) me

Eu se apresentei no teatro.
I performed myself at the theater.
third-person singular and plural reciprocal pronoun; each other; one another
Quando eles se conheceram?
When did they meet (each other)?
(colloquial, nonstandard, Brazil) first-person plural reciprocal pronoun; each other; one another
Synonym: (standard) nos

Nós se beijámos.
We kissed (each other).
second-person singular and plural reflexive and reciprocal pronoun, when used with second-person pronouns other than tu and vós; yourself; yourselves
E você se diz um professor!
And you call yourself a teacher!
impersonal pronominal verb; oneself
Vive-se bem em Belém.
One lives well in Belém.
(literally, “Lives oneself well in Belém”)
accessory, when it is used to embellish the verb without its omission impairing the understanding.
"Vão-se os reis, mas as nações ficam."
Kings go, but nations remain.
particle of spontaneity, when it indicates that there was spontaneity in the action by its agent.
Ele morreu-se.
He died.

Usage notes

When the verb precedes se, a hyphen must be used. In Portugal post-verb se is more common, while in Brazil it usually precedes the verb.
(reflexive and reciprocal): Many verb senses take a reflexive pronoun by default; they are called pronominal verbs. Se must be replaced by me, te, etc. according to the subject.
comunicar-se (com) ― to communicate (with)

arrepender-se ― to repent
Many ergative English verbs are translated by a bare verb for transitive usage and a pronominal one for intransitive:
O professor acalmou os alunos.
The teacher calmed the students down.

O professor acalmou-se.
The teacher calmed down.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:se.

Etymology 2

From Old Galician-Portuguese se, from Latin sī (“if”).

Alternative forms

si (obsolete)

Conjunction

se

if (introduces a condition)
Synonym: caso

Antonyms: caso contrário, senão

Se for sair, leve um guarda-chuva.
If you go out, take an umbrella.

Só começaremos se nos pagarem.
We will only begin if they pay us.
- 2009, Maria Gadú, Altar particular:
  Se enfim, você um dia resolver mudar, tirar meu pobre coração do altar, me devolver como se deve ser.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2007, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e as Relíquias da Morte, Rocco, page 317:
  Desculpe, acho que dá mais medo se for meia-noite!
  I'm sorry, I thought it would be more fearsome if it were midnight!

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:se.

Etymology 3

Pronoun

se

(Brazil, Internet slang) Misspelling of cê; "you"
Synonym: c

se sabe oq aconteceu??
do u know what happened?

Romagnol

Alternative forms

s' (Apocopic)

Conjunction

se

if

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin sē.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/
Rhymes: -e

Pronoun

se

(reflexive pronoun) oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves

Related terms

sine

Romansch

Alternative forms

(Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) si
(Sutsilvan, Surmiran) sen
(Puter, Vallader) sü

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adverb

se

(Sutsilvan, Surmiran) up, upward, upwards

Rwanda-Rundi

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *cé.

Noun

sé class 1a (plural bāsé class 2a)

his/her father
his/her paternal uncle

Samoan

Article

se

a (singular indefinite article)

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *sę, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *sen, from Proto-Indo-European *swé.

Pronoun

se (Cyrillic spelling се)

oneself (clitic form of reflexive pronoun)
1. myself
2. ourselves
3. thyself (archaic)
4. yourself, yourselves
5. himself, herself, itself
6. themselves
(by extension, impersonal) Used to convey the meaning of the English passive voice in the third person where the impersonal subject does the verb unto itself
Kako se zoveš? ― What's your name? (literally, “What do you call yourself?”)

Kako se to kaže na španjolskom? ― How is that said in Spanish? / How do you say that in Spanish? (literally, “How does it say itself in Spanish?”)

Ovdje se govori španjolski ― Spanish is spoken here (literally, “Spanish speaks itself here.”)

Svjetska prvenstva se igraju ljeti. ― World Cups are played during the summer. (literally, “World Cups play themselves during the summer.”)

Declension

Declension of se

	singular	plural
nominative	—	—
genitive	sȅbe, se	sȅbe
dative	sȅbi, si	sȅbi
accusative	sȅbe, se	sȅbe
vocative	—	—
locative	sȅbi	sȅbi
instrumental	sȍbōm	sȍbom

Etymology 2

From Proto-Slavic *sь.

Particle

se (Cyrillic spelling се)

(obsolete) this is; here is
- 1404, anonymous, Kočerin tablet, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
  се лежи вигань милошевиꙉь
  Here lies Viganj Milošević

Sicilian

Alternative forms

sì
se', sè (non-orthographic)

Etymology

From Latin sīc. In the “yes” sense, from sīc (est). Doublet of sì.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ/ (stressed)
IPA^(key): /si/ (unstressed)
Hyphenation: sè

Adverb

se

yes
Antonyms: no, noni, nonzi, ntz

Derived terms

Related terms

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *sę.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛ/

Pronoun

se

oneself: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself
ourselves, yourselves, themselves
Dummy pronoun to make a verb intransitive, reflexive, or for reflexive voice.

Inflection

Second masculine/first feminine/second neuter declension (a-stem), fixed accent, highly irregular Stressed ("naglasne") forms
nominative imenovȃlnik	–	–	–
genitive rodȋlnik	sébe	sébe	sébe
dative dajȃlnik	sébi	sébi	sébi
accusative tožȋlnik	sébe	sébe	sébe
locative mẹ̑stnik	sébi	sébi	sébi
instrumental orọ̑dnik	sȃbo, sebọ́j	sȃbo, sebọ́j	sȃbo, sebọ́j
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	–	–	–

Unstressed ("naslonske") forms
	singular	dual	plural
genitive rodȋlnik	se	se	se
dative dajȃlnik	si	si	si
accusative tožȋlnik	se	se	se

Binding ("navezne / predložne") accusative forms
	singular	dual	plural
unstressed	-se	-se	-se
stressed	sẹ̑	sẹ̑	sẹ̑

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /se/ [se]
Audio (Colombia): (file)
Rhymes: -e
Syllabification: se
Homophones: sé, (Latin America) ce

Etymology 1

From Latin sē.

Pronoun

se m or f by sense (third person, including ‘usted’ and ‘ustedes’)

third person (also used for usted and ustedes) reflexive direct or indirect object oneself, himself, herself, itself, yourself; each other; one another
Juan se lava. ― Juan washes himself.

Juan se lava la cara. ― Juan washes his own face. (literally, “Juan, to himself, washes the face.”)

Juan y María se aman. ― Juan and María love each other.
used to convey the meaning of the English passive voice in the third person and with usted and ustedes
¿Cómo se llama? ― What is your name? (literally, “How do you call yourself?”)

Se dice que... ― It is said that... (literally, “It says itself that...”)

Aquí se habla español ― Spanish is spoken here / They speak Spanish here. (literally, “One speaks Spanish here, Spanish speaks itself here.”)

Usage notes

(third person reflexive, also used for ‘usted’ and ‘ustedes’): Se is used as a suffix with verbs in the infinitive and imperative.

Etymology 2

From Old Spanish ge (from Latin illī, compare Portuguese lhe, Italian gli), whose pronunciation shifted from /ʒe/ to /ʃe/ in Early Modern Spanish, at which point it was reanalyzed as /se/ (rather than shifting to /xe/ as expected).

Alternative forms

ge (archaic)

Pronoun

se m or f by sense (third person, including ‘usted’ and ‘ustedes’)

used instead of indirect object pronouns le and les before the direct object pronouns lo, la, los, or las
El samaritano se las dio. ― The Samaritan gave them to him.

Etymology 3

Verb

se (main verb saber)

Misspelling of sé.

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch zee.

Noun

se

sea

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish sēa, sē, sīa, from Old Norse séa, sjá, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną. Final -g of the past tense form added under influence of the Old Swedish plural form sāgho.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/
Audio: (file)
Homophones: C, c
Rhymes: -eː

Verb

se (present ser, preterite såg, supine sett, imperative se)

to see (not be blind)
Han sa att han var blind, men han kan se
He said he was blind, but he can see
to look
Synonyms: titta, kolla, stirra, glo

Han såg på igelkotten
He looked at the hedgehog
- 1888, August Strindberg, Fröken Julie‎^[12]:
  Tvärtom, fröken Julie, som ni ser har jag skyndat uppsöka min övergivna!
  Quite the opposite, miss Julie, as you can see I have rushed to find my abandoned one!
- 1915, John Wahlborg, Stjärnbanér i blågult‎^[13]:
  Vad jag sett och hört och känt har helt enkelt överväldigat mig.
  What I have seen and heard and felt has quite simply overwhelmed me.
to see; to understand
Synonyms: förstå, fatta, begripa

Jag ser inte hur det skulle kunna vara möjligt. ― I don't see how that could be possible.
to see, to visualize; to form a mental picture of

Usage notes

"Jag ser" for "I see" as in "I understand" does not work in (sense 3). See the synonyms instead.

Conjugation

Conjugation of se (class 5 strong)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	se		ses
Supine	sett		setts
Imperative	se		—
Imper. plural¹	sen		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	ser	såg	ses	sågs
Ind. plural¹	se	sågo	ses	sågos
Subjunctive²	se	såge	ses	såges
	Participles
Present participle	seende
Past participle	sedd
¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Hypernyms

förnimma

Derived terms

Related terms

References

Anagrams

-es

Tagalog

Pronunciation

(Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈse/ [ˈsɛ]
Rhymes: -e
Syllabification: se

Etymology 1

See ce.

Noun

se (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒ) (historical)

Alternative form of ce

Etymology 2

See che.

Noun

se (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒ) (historical)

Alternative form of che

Anagrams

es

Talysh

Etymology

Cognate with Persian (seh).

Numeral

se

three

Tarantino

Pronoun

se (impersonal, reflexive)

it
one

Ternate

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈse]

Preposition

se (Jawi سي)

human oblique preposition
1. to
2. at, in
3. on
4. from

Usage notes

Se is only used when the referent is human. For non-human referents, toma is used instead.

Alternative forms

si

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈse]

Preposition

se (Jawi سي)

associative preposition: with
ngori totagi butu se ngori rinongoru ― I go to the market with my younger sibling
instrumental preposition: with, by, using
tabu se usipera ― fire the gun (literally, “to shoot with the gun”)

Usage notes

Generally, when se takes a human referent, it is associative, and when se takes a non-human referent, it is instrumental, although exceptions do exist.

Alternative forms

si

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈse]

Conjunction

se (Jawi سي)

and
tohida riyaya se ribaba ― I see my mother and my father
forms compound numbers
bobato nyagimoi se tofkange ― the (council of) eighteen bobatos (literally, “the ten and eight bobatos”)

References

Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890) Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *suHyús. Cognate with Tocharian B soy, Old Armenian ուստր (ustr) and Ancient Greek υἱύς (huiús).

Noun

se m

son

Tocharian B

Pronoun

se

Alternative form of kᵤse (“who, which”) (colloquial)

Turkish

Etymology 1

Noun

se

The name of the Latin-script letter S/s.

Etymology 2

Noun

se

Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ث

Tuvaluan

Article

se (indefinite article)

a, an

Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe. Cognates include Finnish se and Estonian see.

Pronoun

se

it

Inflection

See Template:vep-decl-se for inflection.

Determiner

se

that (far)

Inflection

See Template:vep-decl-se for inflection.

Derived terms

-se

References

Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “та, то, тот”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[14], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [sɛ˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂɛ˧˧] ~ [sɛ˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʂɛ˧˧] ~ [sɛ˧˧]

Verb

se

to be almost dry
to be wrung with pain

References

“se”, in Soha Tra Từ (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Vietnam Communications Corporation. Available under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.

Volapük

Preposition

se

out of

Votic

Pronunciation

(Luutsa, Liivtšülä) IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈse]
Rhymes: -e
Hyphenation: se

Pronoun

se

Alternative form of see

Welsh

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛ/

Verb

se (not mutable)

Contraction of basai.

West Frisian

Pronoun

se

Alternative form of sy (“she”)

Pronoun

se

Alternative form of sy (“they”)

Wutunhua

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sʰə]

**Wutunhua numbers ^(edit)**
	40
← 3	4	5 →
Cardinal: se Ordinal: di-se, xxewa

Etymology 1

From Mandarin 四 (sì).

Numeral

se

four

Etymology 2

From Mandarin 死 (sǐ).

Verb

se

to die
rolang sho-de je da nga-n-de mula ren se-gu-la diando rolang qhe-lai-li sho-de gu-li.
As for this thing called ro-langs [type of Tibetan zombie], it is said that if a person among us dies, there will appear a ro-langs instead.
(Quoted in Janhunen et al., p. 114)

References

Juha Janhunen, Marja Peltomaa, Erika Sandman, Xiawu Dongzhou (2008) Wutun (LINCOM's Descriptive Grammar Series), volume 466, LINCOM Europa, →ISBN
Erika Sandman (2016) A Grammar of Wutun‎^[15], University of Helsinki (PhD), →ISBN

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Proposed to be derived from Proto-Yoruboid *sì, compare with Igala hì, Igbo si

Alternative forms

hè (Ìkálẹ̀)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sè/

Verb

sè

(transitive) to cook
Ó se ọbẹ̀ ilá. ― He cooked okra soup.
(transitive) to boil
Mi ò mọ ẹyin ín sè. ― I don't know how to boil eggs.

Usage notes

When to cook is intransitive use dáná.
(to boil): When referring to leafy vegetables or meat use bọ̀, when referring to water use hó.

Derived terms

oúnjẹ sísè (“cooking”)
sísè (“cooked, cooking”)
àsè (“banquet”)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sé/

Verb

sé

(transitive) to block; to shut
Wọ́n sé fèrèsé náà. ― They blocked that window.
(transitive) to miss
Òkúta tí ó jù sé ihò. ― The rock she threw missed the hole.

Derived terms

sé léèémí (“to strangle, to choke”)
sé mọ́lé (“to quarantine”)
ìsédò (“dam”)
ìséjúlé (“deep defending”)

Zazaki

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sɛ]

Etymology 1

From Turkish -se (“if”).

Conjunction

se

if

Derived terms

benose

Etymology 2

From Proto-Iranian *číš (“what”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷís (“who, what, which, that”).

Adverb

se

what
how

Etymology 3

Numeral

se

Alternative form of sed

[1] Angelo Prati, "Vocabolario Etimologico Italiano", Torino, 1951

[2] se² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

[1]

[2]

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Combined	Disjunctive	Locative	Partitive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m', -mi			me	me	—
	second	—	tu	ti, t', -ti			te	te	—
	third	m	lui	si², s', -si	lo, l', -lo	gli, -gli	glie, se²	lui, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
	third	f	lei, Lei¹	si², s', -si	la, La¹, l', L'¹, -la, -La¹	le³, Le¹, -le³, -Le¹	glie, se²	lei, Lei¹, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c', -ci			ce	noi	—
	second	—	voi, Voi⁴	vi, Vi⁴, v', V'⁴, -vi, -Vi⁴			ve	voi, Voi⁴	—
	third	m	loro, Loro¹	si, s', -si	li, Li¹, -li, -Li¹	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro¹	glie, se	loro, Loro¹, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
	third	f	loro, Loro¹	si, s', -si	le, Le¹, -le, -Le¹	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro¹	glie, se	loro, Loro¹, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
¹	Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
²	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
³	Often replaced by gli, -gli in informal language.
⁴	Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).

	singular	plural
1st person	a / آ	ábi / آبی
2nd person	tu / تُو	ábi / آبی
3rd person (near)	ía / اِیا	émi / ایمی
3rd person (far)	ása / آسا	éḷi / ایࣇی
3rd person (absent)	se / سے	te / تے

			nominative	dative	accusative	disjunctive
first person	singular		ei	me, -mi		mi
	plural	common	nos	mus^L nus^LV nos, -nus^M		nos
		masculine	noshotrus^M			noshotrus^M
		feminine	noshotras^M			noshotras^M
second person	singular		tú	te, -ti		ti
	plural	common	vos	vus^LV vos, -vus^M		vos
		masculine	voshotrus^M			voshotrus^M
		feminine	voshotras^M			voshotras^M
third person	singular	masculine	el	le, -li	u^LV, o^M	el
	singular	feminine	ela		a	ela
	plural	masculine	elis		us^LV, os^M	elis
	plural	feminine	elas		as	elas
	reflexive		—	se, -si		sí

	proximal	distal	neutral
singular	tämä	tuo	se
plural	nämä	nuo	ne
^) See the usage notes under tuo* for the difference between se and tuo.

Ingrian demonstratives
	proximal	neutral	distal
singular	tämä (tää)	se	too
plural	nämät (näät)	neet	noo

singular	first-class pronoun	second-class pronoun
first-person	ixé	se
second-person	indé	ne
third-person	aé	i
plural	first-class pronoun	second-class pronoun
first-person	yandé	yané
second-person	penhẽ	pe
third-person	aintá (or tá)	aintá (or tá)

	first	second	third anim	third anim or inan
singular	mie	sie	hän	se
plural	met	tet	het	net

se

Translingual

Symbol

See also

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Translations

Anagrams

Abinomn

Noun

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Particle

See also

Albanian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Conjunction

Related terms

Bavarian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronoun

Synonyms

See also

Bonan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Breton

Pronoun

Catalan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Usage notes

Declension

Central Huasteca Nahuatl

Pronunciation

Numeral

Central Nahuatl

Numeral

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronoun

Inflection

References

Coatepec Nahuatl

Numeral

Czech

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Pronoun

Related terms

Etymology 2

Preposition

Further reading

Dalmatian

Etymology

Pronoun

Danish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

Conjugation

Dimasa

Numeral

Esperanto

Etymology

Pronunciation

Conjunction

Ewe

Pronunciation

Noun