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A verb is re!exive when the subject (the performer of the action) and the object (the receiver of that action) are the same.

For example, the verb in the sentence “I see you” is not re!exive because “I” (the subject) and “you” (the object) are not the same person. However, if I look in the mirror and see myself, the verb is re!exive because “I” (the subject) and “my-self ” (the object) are the same person. Another way of looking at re!exive verbs is to say that the action doesn’t go anywhere.

In English, the object of a re!exive verb is usually one of the following pro-nouns: “myself,” “yourself,” “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “ourselves,” and “them-selves.” In Spanish, re!exive verbs require re!exive object pronouns.

If there is one verb in the clause, the object pronoun precedes the verb.Me veo. I see myself.

If there are two verbs in the clause, the object either precedes the "rst verb or is attached directly to the second verb. Either structure is acceptable; however, add-ing the object pronoun to the in"nitive is more common (see the second Spanish example below).

Me quiero ver. }Quiero verme. I want to see myself.

In English, our use of the re!exive pronoun is quite restricted and generally in-volves the person as a whole: “I love myself,” “you know yourself,” “he hates him-self,” and so on.

In Spanish, however, the notion of re!exive is far more expansive. A verb is considered re!exive as long as the action is going back to the actor. For example, “I wash my hair,” “you take a bath,” and “we brush our teeth” all are examples of sentences that require re!exive pronouns in Spanish.

Spanish reflexive pronouns

me noste osse se

bañarse to take a bath sentarse (e > ie) to sit down

me baño nos bañamos me siento nos sentamoste bañas os bañáis te sientas os sentáisse baña se bañan se sienta se sientan

Note that sentarse is an e > ie stem-changing verb. It means literally to “seat oneself.”

Reflexive verbs

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#ere are some important things to know before working with re!exive verbs.

1 Many re!exive verbs are stem-changing (these are noted in the list below), and they are conjugated like their nonre!exive counterparts.

2 Many re!exive verbs involve the mention of a body part or parts, for example, cepillarse (“to brush”). In Spanish, the de"nite article rather than the possessive adjective is typically used before the name of a body part (the re!exive pronoun makes it obvious whose body is being discussed).

Me cepillo el pelo. I brush my hair. Ella se cepilla los dientes. She brushes her teeth. Te lavas el pelo. You wash your hair.

3 Nearly all verbs in the language can be either re!exive or nonre!exive: “I scratch myself ” (re!exive) or “I scratch my cat” (nonre!exive). #erefore, the list below is far from ex-haustive. However, certain actions are usually re!exive due to the nature of the action (bath- ing, shaving, brushing teeth, etc.). For the most part, these are the verbs found below.

4 In the list below, irse (“to go away”) is a verb that di$ers from the general usage of a re!ex-ive verb, in that this is not a case where the subject and object are the same. Instead, the re!exive pronoun intensi"es the action. Two other re!exive verbs with distinctive mean-ings are comerse (“to gobble up”), which does not mean “to eat oneself,” and morirse (“to pass away”), which so%ens the message, rather than changes the meaning, of morir (“to die”).

Below are several common re!exive verbs.

VOCABULARIO

acostarse (o > ue) to go to bed levantarse to stand up, get upafeitarse to shave oneself llamarse to call oneselfbañarse to bathe oneself mirarse to look at oneselfcasarse (con to marry (someone); morirse (o > ue) to pass away alguien) to get married peinarse to comb one’s haircepillarse to brush oneself, ponerse to become, get

brush one’s (hair, teeth) ponerse (la ropa) to put on (clothing)comerse to gobble up, eat hastily preocuparse (por) to worry (about)despertarse (e > ie) to wake up probarse (o > ue) to try on (clothing)desvestirse (e > i) to undress oneself quitarse to take o$ (clothing),dormirse (o > ue) to fall asleep remove (clothing)ducharse to take a shower secarse to dry oneselfenfermarse to get sick sentarse (e > ie) to sit down, seat oneselfenojarse to get angry, get mad sentirse (e > ie) to feel (emotionally, physically)irse to go away verse to see oneselflavarse to wash oneself vestirse (e > i) to get dressed

Me quito el sombrero. I take o! my hat.Nos vestimos en la mañana. We get dressed in the morning.Te acuestas a las once. You go to bed at eleven o’clock.Os llamáis Brígida y Pancho. Your names are Brigida and Pancho.Romeo se casa con Julieta. Romeo marries Juliet.Ellas se ponen nerviosas. "ey become nervous.

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EJERCICIO

¿Cuál es verdadero o falso para ti?

1. Me acuesto a las diez de la noche.

2. Me despierto a las seis y media de la mañana.

3. Me lavo el pelo cada día.

4. Me ducho cada mañana.

5. Me siento enfermo/enferma ahora.

6. Me pongo feliz cuando recibo un regalo para mi cumpleaños.

7. Me preocupo mucho por el dinero.

8. Me cepillo los dientes tres veces cada día.

9. Me enfermo más en el invierno que en el verano.

10. Me llamo Juan.

11. Después de ducharme, me visto.

12. Antes de acostarme, me quito la ropa y me pongo el pijama.

10·1EJERCICIO

Traducción

1. I go to bed.

2. You wash your hair.

3. He shaves every morning.

4. She shaves her legs.

5. You all wake up.

6. They [m.] sit down.

7. She goes away.

8. My name is Rex.

9. You take a shower.

10. We get dressed.

11. You all fall asleep.

12. She takes a bath.

13. I worry about the future.

14. You all [formal] wake up.

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15. I get undressed at night.

16. Your name is Alicia.

17. He takes o! his shirt.

18. You all [formal] see yourselves in the mirror.

19. I feel sick.

20. You comb your hair.

21. We brush our teeth.

22. She falls asleep.

23. Do you take a shower?

24. His name is Donald.

25. The pig gobbles up the corn.

10·2EJERCICIO

Traducción

VOCABULARIO la alondra lark el mediodía noon el búho owl sucio/sucia dirty el despertador alarm clock tipo kind el espejo mirror el trabajo job el guarro slob

There are two kinds of people: There are larks (morning people) and owls (night people). I am a lark. I wake up—with or without an alarm clock—at "ve o’clock in the morning. I get up immediately, brush my teeth, take a shower, wash my hair, dry my hair, get dressed, and go o! to work. My brother is completely di!erent. He doesn’t wake up until noon and he doesn’t get up until one o’clock in the afternoon. He is a slob. He doesn’t brush his teeth, doesn’t wash his hair, and doesn’t take a shower. When he sees himself in the mirror, I think he really sees a monster. He never combs his hair. He gets sick a lot, and he gets angry because he can’t get a job when he’s so dirty.

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EJERCICIO

Describe your morning and evening routines, using as many re#exive verbs as you can.

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