ocurrírsele

Ocurrírsele is a pronominal Spanish verb meaning to occur to someone or to come to mind. It describes a thought, idea, plan, or solution that arises spontaneously in a person. The construction uses the reflexive se plus an indirect object pronoun to indicate who experiences the thought, as in se me ocurrió una idea or se le ocurrió proponer una solución.

The typical pattern is ocurrírsele a alguien, with me, te, le, nos, os, or les marking the experiencer. In many contexts the indirect object clarifies who the thought belongs to, while the clitic se signals that the event is somewhat involuntary or incidental. Examples: Se me ocurrió una idea. ¿Qué se te ocurrió hacer? A Juan se le ocurrió proponer una solución. With preguntas or emphasis, you can add a name: A María se le ocurrió una táctica.

Conjugation notes: the verb behaves like ocurrir with a pronominal se. Present: se me ocurre, se te ocurre, se le ocurre; Preterite: se me ocurrió; Imperfect: se me ocurría; Future: se me ocurrirá; Present perfect: se me ha ocurrido. The phrase is widely used in informal and neutral registers, and it can be expanded with de que or que clauses: Se me ocurrió de pronto que podríamos cambiar de plan.

Etymology and sense: ocurrírsele derives from ocurrir (to occur, to happen) and employs a dativo de interés or se de interés construction to express that a thought unexpectedly arises for the subject. This usage is common across Spanish varieties and is a standard way to convey spontaneous mental events.