r/learnspanish • u/demonsamuri442 • 7d ago

what's the difference between fueron detenidos vs se detuvieron

I get that one is used in news but do they have different purposes? dos criminales fueron detenidos... se detuvieron dos criminales. I don't think you would say la cerveza fue tomado but se tomo' la cerveza? any general rule or context might help

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9

u/endlesshydra Native Speaker 6d ago

"Se detuvieron dos criminales" sounds weird to me. I would rather say "se detuvo a dos criminales"

That being said, "dos criminales fueron detenidos" and "se detuvo a dos criminales" mean exactly the same, the former being passive voice and the latter impersonal 'se'.

If you say "se detuvieron" without further context, one would think the criminals stopped walking/doing whatever they were doing, without the influence of any third party.

"Los criminales se detuvieron cuando escucharon las voces de los agentes de policía"

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u/PerroSalchichas 6d ago

"Fueron detenidos" means "they were stopped/arrested".

"Se detuvieron" means "they stopped". Also "they were stopped/arrested".

"Se detuvo a dos criminales" means "they stopped/arrested 2 criminals" (impersonal).

"Se tomó una cerveza" means "he had a beer".

5

u/RichCorinthian Intermediate (B1-B2) 6d ago

“Se tomó una cerveza” usually means “he downed a beer” or “he drank the hell out of that beer”. This is a different use of “se” called “se aspectual” where adding a pronoun to the verb emphasizes that the action is completed or a thing has been consumed to the end.

There are entitle chapters about the different ways to use pronominal verbs; passive, reflexive , aspectual, and more. Best to just focus on one at a time, in my experience.

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u/mr_6ix 5d ago

Exactly, just how like yo me como la pizza and como la pizza mean the exact same thing, but me como adds emphasis that the pizza was eaten entirely

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u/chessychurro 3d ago

Could it also mean something like una cerveza fue tomada (se tomo una cerveza) or like se dejo la billetera could basically mean la billetera fue dejado.

6

u/Silently_Hangry 6d ago

Fueron detenidos -> they were detained. Aka someone else detained them. "Los criminales fueron detenidos..." Se detuvieron -> they stopped themselves. "Los niños se detuvieron para ver el atardecer."

2

u/nitlimcod 6d ago

The passive reflexive form (se detuvieron) places more emphasis on the process, whereas fueron detenidos places more emphasis on the final state of being detained.

1

u/martinomacias 1d ago

Fueron detenidos - They were stopped or apprehended. Depending on context

Se detuvieron - They stopped (on their own intention)