FHUHS Spanish

Reflexive Verbs (Los verbos reflexivos)

A verb is considered to be reflexive when the doer of the action is also the receiver of the action. For example, if you are combing your hair, you are the person doing the combing as well as the person being combed.

• Me peino, I comb (myself)
• Te peinas, You comb (yourself)
• Nos peinamos, We comb (ourselves)

Of course it is possible to comb someone else’s hair, but that isn’t reflexive and you wouldn’t use the reflexive form of the verbs.

In English we often omit the reflexive marker (myself, yourself, himself, etc.). One should never omit the reflexive pronoun in Spanish. It is easy to tell when a verb is reflexive in Spanish. It will always appear with a reflexive pronoun. Always.

The reflexive pronouns

Like all pronouns, the reflexive pronouns can be placed in four possible locations:

1. Before the conjugated form of the verb: Me peino.
2. After and attached to the infinitive: Tengo que peinarme.
3. After and attached to a direct, affirmative command: Péinate.
4. After and attached to the present participle: Estoy peinándome.

Some common reflexive verbs are:

There are many verbs in Spanish which are regularly used reflexively but which may not seem to be reflexive to a native speaker of English.

• levantarse (to get up): In English you would rarely say “I get myself up at 7am” but in Spanish that is precisely what one says: *Me levanto a las siete.”
• ducharse (to take a shower): Generally in English we don’t explicity state that you are showering yourself, but in Spanish, unless you want your listener to think that you’re giving a shower to someone else, you should always say Me ducho.

There are some Spanish verbs which change meaning when used reflexively compared to their meaning when they are used normally: