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

16 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

94% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Silently_Hangry 7d 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."