Reflexive verbs

Me levanto a las siete

There is a special group of Spanish verbs that are used everywhere, but we haven’t talked about them yet. These verbs are called reflexive verbs.

Reflexive verbs express an action, that is directed back to the object itself, which produces the action.

Por la mañana me ducho – In the morning I wash myself in the shower

Manuel se hace un café – Manuel makes himself a coffee

Reflexive verbs exist in English, too. However, they are not that widespread as in Spanish.

To explain what reflexive verbs are, let’s start with an analogy in English.

English reflexive verbs are followed by the reflexive pronoun “oneself”. The forms of this pronoun can be different: myself, herself, itself, themselves, etc. When you use the reflexive pronoun, you indicate explicitly, that an action is directed towards the same object.

My dad buys himself a car

This means that he does it for himself, not for somebody else.

In Spanish the same sentence will sound like this:

Mi papá se compra un coche

The Spanish “se” pronoun is exactly the same as the English “himself”. If you say Mi papá compra un coche, forgetting about se, it can mean that he buys a car to somebody else, but not necessarily to himself.

The infinitive of this verb is comprarse (to buy oneself).

Compare these two verbs. The first one is non-reflexive (simple), the second one is reflexive.

comprar – to buy

comprarse – to buy oneself

As you can see, Spanish infinitives are written with the reflexive pronoun -se at the end.

ducharse – to wash oneself in a shower

hacerse – to make oneself something

prepararse – to prepare oneself (for something)

However, to say an infinitive is one thing, and to use its different personal forms within a sentence is another thing.

Forms

Let’s have a look at how Spanish reflexive verbs are conjugated.

comprarse

yo – me compro

tú – te compras

él, ella, usted – se compra

nosotros – nos compramos

vosotros – os compráis

ellos, ellas, ustedes – se compran

Yo me compro una casa – I buy myself a house. I buy a house for myself

When you use the verb comprarse in a sentence, you should cut the -se pronoun off from the end of the infinitive and put it right before it. Then you have to change se to its right personal form, which is different in each person.

This is what the personal forms of the reflexive pronoun -se look like:

yo – me

tú – te

él, ella, usted – se

nosotros – nos

vosotros – os

ellos, ellas, ustedes – se

As for the verb itself, its ending also has to be changed, just like in a simple verb: compro, compras, compra, etc.

Try it yourself:

ducharse

yo – …

tú – …

él, ella, usted – …

nosotros – …

vosotros – …

ellos, ellas, ustedes – …

prepararse

yo – …

tú – …

él, ella, usted – …

nosotros – …

vosotros – …

ellos, ellas, ustedes – …

Te duchas por la mañana o por la noche? – Do you take a shower in the morning or in the evening?

Los estudiantes se preparan para el examen – The students prepare themselves for the exam

The students in this example get themselves ready for the exam.

The reflexive pronoun -se can be added to almost any simple Spanish verb, converting it into a reflexive one.

levantar – to raise something up

levantarse – to rise (oneself) up, to get up

mirar – to look at something

mirarse – to look at oneself

¿A qué hora te levantas? – What time do you get up?

Me levanto a las seis – I get up at six

But:

Yo miro a Elena – I look at Elena

It would be wrong to say “Yo levanto a las seis”, without “me”. From the Spanish perspective, that would mean, that “I raise something up at six”, but not myself.

Have a look at more examples, where non-reflexive and reflexive verbs are applied.

lavar – to wash something

lavarse – to wash something to oneself

Yo lavo los platos – I wash the dishes

Yo me lavo el pelo – I wash the hair to myself. I wash my hair

cortar – to cut something

cortarse – to cut something to oneself

Mi mamá corta el pan – My mom cuts the bread

Mi mamá se corta las uñas – My mom cuts the nails to herself. My mom cuts her nails

vestir – to dress somebody

vestirse – to dress oneself up

La abuela viste a los niños – The granny dresses the children

Los niños se visten y salen de casa – The children dress themselves up and go out

Reflexive verbs can also be irregular. When you find any of them, learn what irregular modification they have.

For example:

despertarse: me despierto (e – ie)

vestirse: me visto (e – i)

Now, as you are getting more familiar with Spanish reflexive verbs, let’s get rid of the English reflexive pronoun “oneself” in every translated sentence, which sometimes sounds a little bit awkward. Just try to understand reflexive verbs as Spanish speakers do.

despertarse – to wake up

acostarse – to go to sleep

dormirse – to fall asleep

sentarse – to sit down

ponerse – to put on

Luisa despierta a su bebé – Luisa wakes her baby up

Luisa se despierta muy temprano – Luisa wakes up very early

Acostamos al niño bastante tarde – We put the child to sleep quite late

Nos acostamos bastante tarde – We go to sleep quite late

José duerme nueve horas — Jose sleeps nine hours

José se duerme rápido — Jose falls asleep fast

Pongo el pantalón en el armario – I put the pants into the wardrobe

Me pongo el pantalón — I put the pants on

La señora Gómez sienta al niño a la mesa – Mrs. Gomez puts the child at the table

La señora Gómez se sienta en el banquillo – Mrs. Gomez sits down on a bench

By the way, llamarse is also a reflexive verb. We came across it in the first lesson.

¿Cómo te llamas? – What’s your name? Literally, How do you call yourself?

Me llamo Gabriela

Now you can use all its forms.

Finally, let’s make a list of all reflexive verbs that were mentioned in this lesson and add some more.

prepararse – to get ready

ducharse – to take a shower

bañarse – to take a bath

lavarse – to wash

cortarse – to cut

pintarse – to color, to dye, to do a makeup

peinarse – to comb the hair

hacerse – to make oneself

comprarse – to buy oneself

despertarse – to wake up

levantarse – to get up

acostarse – to go to sleep

dormirse – to fall asleep

vestirse – to dress up

ponerse – to put on

quitarse – to take off

sentarse – to sit down

llamarse – to be called, named

afeitarse – to shave

casarse – to get married

sentirse – to feel

quedarse – to stay