# se - placement of the reflexive



## djwebb1969

I referred in another thread to "Jak se ti tady líbí?"

Are there any rules on where the "se" goes? 

For example:

Jak tady se ti líbí?
Jak tady ti líbí se?

Is it freeform, or is there an ideal location for the "se" in most sentences?


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## Enquiring Mind

Fixed position, as discussed in Karel Tahal, A Grammar of Czech as a Foreign Language, pp 62-63. 
Jak tady se ti líbí?  Jak tady ti líbí se?  Jak se ti tady líbí?


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## djwebb1969

Thanks, I'll consult that page!


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## djwebb1969

OK, I can see that grammar PDF is actually better than Naughton's book, which contains many lacunae.


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## risa2000

Czech does not have fixed order in the sentence, so from your original phrase you can generate a lot of variations. Depending on how you order the words, you make an emphasis on the particular word - subject, object, verb, pronoun, adverb.
I believe the problem (for non native speaker) would be rather with "sonic harmony" of the sentence. For example:
*Jak tady ti líbí se?* no one will probably use because of "unnatural" use of *ti*, but
*Jak tady tobě líbí se?* sounds possible (but a bit artificial)
and vice-versa. Sometimes *ti *sounds correct and sometimes *tobě*. Apart from that it is basically free game, but with each combination having emphasis (or not) on different part of the sentence and also some sounding more natural than the others. However if you would want to learn the neutral variant - it would be *jak se ti tady líbí?

EDIT: *I posted this reply before seeing the one from EM above. After checking the PDF he recommends, I would add that it refers to the "neutral" variants.


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