Reflexive verbs are those in which the action is performed by the the subject upon itself, and they are very common in Spanish:
- Juan se afeita todas las mañanas. (Juan shaves every morning.)
- María se cepilla los dientes. (María brushes her teeth.)
- Rosa se mira en el espejo. (Rosa looks at herself in the mirror.)
- Javier se defendió de los ladrones. (Javier defended himself from the thieves.)
Reflexive verbs in English are not quite as common as in Spanish, but notice from the last two examples how reflexive pronouns in English (herself, himself) are used to emphasize the action and have their equivalent in Spanish.
Reflexive pronouns |
me
(myself) |
nos
(ourselves) |
te
(yourself) |
os
(yourselves(vosotros)) |
se
(himself, herself,
you(formal)) |
se
(themselves,
yourselves(ustedes)) |
In Spanish we have many situations in which we use reflexive verbs (almost any verb that takes an object can be used with a reflexive pronoun), but we use them mainly to express habit, condition, and emotional state. Note that we place reflexive pronouns immediately before the conjugated verb:
- Me despierto a las seis todos los días. (I wake up at six every day.)
- Te levantas a las seis y cuarto todos los días. (You get up at 6:15 every day.)
- Me ducho a las seis y veinte. (I take a shower at 6:20.)
- Ella no se enferma cuando come mucho chocolate.
(She doesn´t get sick when she eats lots of chocolate.)
- Marta se enoja cuando Joaquín nos visita.
(Marta gets upset when Joaquín visits us.)
- No me divierte aprender español. (I don´t enjoy myself learning Spanish.)
- Me vuelves loco. (You drive me crazy.)
- Hoy no se sienten bien. (Today they are not feeling well.)
- Me duele la cabeza. (I have a headache.)
- Ponte el vestido rojo. (Put on your red dress.)
Be aware that many verbs can be used in a reflexive or non-reflexive manner, and their meaning changes accordingly:
- Juan lava el coche. (Juan washes the car.)
- Juan se lava. (Juan washes himself.)
- María acuesta a sus hijos. (María puts her kids to bed.)
- María se acuesta. (María goes to bed.)
- Ella llama a Marta. (She calls Marta.)
- Ella se llama Marta. (She calls herself Marta/Her name is Marta.)
- Almudena pinta su habitación. (Almudena paints her room.)
- Almudena se pinta en su habitación.
(Almudena is putting on her makeup in her room.)
- Rosa limpia el espejo. (Rosa cleans the mirror.)
- Rosa se limpia en el espejo. (Rosa cleans herself up in the mirror.)
The following is a small list of commonly used reflexive verbs. Note how reflexive verbs are usually listed here and in Spanish grammar books with the pronoun "se" attached to the infinitive. This helps identify them as reflexive:
|
Common reflexive verbs |
levantarse |
to get up |
enamorarse |
to fall in love |
acostarse |
to go to bed |
enojarse |
to get upset |
afeitarse |
to shave |
enfermarse |
to become ill |
bañarse |
to take a bath |
convertirse |
to become |
ducharse |
to take a shower |
divertirse |
to enjoy oneself |
ponerse |
to put on |
olvidarse |
to forget |
quitarse |
to take off |
acordarse |
to remember |
maquillarse |
to put makeup on |
aburrirse |
to get bored |
peinarse |
to comb one´s hair |
desvestirse |
to get undressed |
Ponerse, volverse |
We use "ponerse" not only to "put on something", but also
to express emotional or physical changes:
- Él se pone pálido. (He becomes pale )
- Ella se pone alegre. (She becomes happy.) |
"Volverse" is used to express sudden change:
- José se volvió loco. (José went crazy.)
- El paciente está volviendo en sí. (The patient is coming to his senses.) |
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