Se me rajó la chaqueta con un clavo.

Sentence Discussions Spanish
#1
English Translation

I tore my jacket on a nail.

I wonder, would “me rajé la chaqueta” be equivalent?

#2

Not really. While there are both translations of “I tore my jacket”, they have different implications:

  • In “Me raje la chaqueta (con un clavo)”, you are the one doing the tearing. As in, you took a nail and slashed your jacket.
  • “Se me rajó la chaqueta” implies an external action, you are (probably) not responsible for that situation. An example could be: “I tore my jacket on a nail, because I was walking alongside a wooden fence and a nail that was a bit to long got hooked on in”. Here the original translation would be used: “Se me rajó la chaqueta con un clavo, porque […]”.
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#3

That makes sense. The second interpretation is more natural.