# When to use sobie or se?



## Parola0

Hello 

This may be a wee bit of a silly question but I am never too sure when to use "se" and "sobie" or do people even use se nowadays?
An example of what I would say: Ide se zrobic herbate
                                                     myslialam se tak
                                                     poszlam se


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## DW

As for the "Idę se zrobić herbatę", I think you actually could hear that in households used in spoken language, but you will never ever see this written down as it stands. As far as the "myślałam se tak" and "poszłam se" go, some further context would help, but in most of contexts it'd be consider to be nothing but a barnyard language.


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## Parola0

Thank you 
If I changes se in each one to sobie would it still make sense?


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## DW

Not only would it make sense, but it'd also be way more proper and idiomatic.


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## Thomas1

Parola0 said:


> Hello
> 
> This may be a wee bit of a silly question but I am never too sure when to use "se" and "sobie" or do people even use se nowadays?
> An example of what I would say: Ide se zrobic herbate
> myslialam se tak
> poszlam se


The correct ones are:
myślałam sobie tak
poszłam sobie

Note that in many cases "sobie" can be skipped altogether. People use it very often in colloquial spoken Polish. Most frequently it doesn't add any meaning to the verb; it makes the utterance colloquial/familiar; sometimes it also sort of makes the meaning of a verb more emphatic. It is so ingrained is some speaker's way of speaking that they may not even consider it colloquial/familiar in certain contexts. Some samples:
Poszedł sobie do domu. (colloquial/familiar) = Poszedł do domu.
Pomyślałam sobie, że pójdziemy do kina. (colloquial/familiar) = Pomyślałam, że pójdziemy do kina.

Both 'se' and 'sobie' can be seen in written language, but usually in texts which are supposed to imitate certain language register. I'd, however, advise against using 'se'. It very often sounds uneducated.

EDIT: With verbs of motion "sobie" can also add the nuance of an indefinite destination:
_Poszedł sobie po południu. _vs. _Poszedł po południu._


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## Parola0

Okay thank you everyone 
Makes a lot more sense now


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## Ben Jamin

Parola0 said:


> Hello
> 
> This may be a wee bit of a silly question but I am never too sure when to use "se" and "sobie" or do people even use se nowadays?
> An example of what I would say: Ide se zrobic herbate
> myslialam se tak
> poszlam se


"Se" is never used in formal language, neither written nor oral. It is about the same register as "I ain't" in English.


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## dreamlike

I'm one of those bad people who do tend to use 'se' every now and then. When? When among people I know well, these are people that won't laugh at my saying so because for them the way we speak is not a mark of education.


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## Thomas1

It may be worth mentioning that while in standard Polish the pronoun "se" is considered (very) colloquial, it is a standard part of many local dialects in Poland. I'm fairly sure that, for example, the Silesian and _góralski_ dialects make a daily use of it.


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## warudemaru

Thomas1 said:


> I'm fairly sure that, for example, the Silesian (...) make a daily use of it.



Moplikiem *se* jada na szychte


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