Producirse

Producirse is a Spanish pronominal verb used to express that something happens, takes place, or is produced. It is commonly found in impersonal or passive constructions with the reflexive pronoun, as in se produce, se produjo, or se ha producido. The sense ranges from events and phenomena (an accident, a change) to processes of production (goods, works being manufactured) and the development of a situation.

Common uses include indicating that an event occurs: se produjo un apagón anoche (an outage occurred last night). It is also used to describe production or manufacture in a general sense: la mercancía se produce en la fábrica (the goods are produced in the factory). In addition, it can express the development or emergence of a condition: con esos cambios, se produce una mejora (with those changes, an improvement arises). The construction often emphasizes the happening rather than the agent.

Grammar and nuance: producirse is conjugated as a reflexive form of producir, and in compound tenses it takes the participle producido in phrases like se ha producido or se había producido. The verb exists alongside the non-reflexive producir, which has related meanings such as to produce or to manufacture; proscribe conflating the two, though they share a common etymology.

Etymology: pro­ducirse derives from the Latin producere, meaning to bring forth or to lead forth, with the reflexive suffix -irse.

See also: producir, ocurrir, suceder.