Estimado/a
estudiante de español,
Gracias por
seguir este blog. En este artículo vamos a ver los verbos reflexivos en
español.
There are reflexive verbs in English in Spanish, although in
Spanish are more common. But……what are the reflexive verbs anyway?
A reflexive verb is one where the subject and the object are
the same and where the action of the verb “reflects back” on the subject. In
other words: reflexive verbs are used to talk about actions you do “yourself” and to “yourself”, for
example: ducharse ( to have a
shower),secarse ( meaning to dry
yourself), acostarse ( to go to bed)……
Also we have to take in account that the infinitive form of
any reflexive verb has se attached
to the end of it. As we saw before :
Ducharse.
The most common reflexive verbs at beginner and intermediate
level are:
- Acostarse
to go to bed
- Afeitarse to shave
- Bañarse to have a bath
- Dormirse to fall asleep
- Ducharse to have a shower
- Enfadarse to get angry
- Lavarse to wash
- Levantarse to get up
- Llamarse to be called
- Secarse to get dried
- Sentarse to sit down
- Vestirse to get dressed
Here you have some examples,
Mi hermano se
ducha en el gimnasio
Normalmente me
levanto a las 8 de la mañana
Se viste muy
rápido por la mañana
Mi amigo se
enfada cuando no gana al fútbol
Mi hijo
normalmente se duerme después de comer
Me siento en el
sofá cuando llego a casa
Se lava las manos
antes de cocinar
Se acuestan muy
tarde por la noche.
It is important to know that some verbs can be used as both
“ reflexive” and “ordinary” verbs. The difference is that when the verb is used
as an ordinary verb the action of the verb is not received by the subject of
the sentence. For example,
Me lavo ………….I wash myself
Lavo la ropa ( I wash the clothes)
Me llamo Pepe I am called Pepe
LLama a su padre
por telefono He rings
his dad by phone
Me acuesto a las 10 de la noche I go
to bed at 10 at night
Acuesto a mi hijo todas las noches I put my son to sleep every night
How do we form the reflexive verbs?
In order to this we need to learn the “ reflexive pronouns”.
You can see in the following example that between the subject ( yo, tú, él……)
and the verbs is where the reflexive pronoun is located.
Example, reflexive form of the verb lavantarse ( to get up).
Yo me levanto
Tú te levantas
Él /ella se levanta
Nosotros/as nos levantamos
Vosotros/as os levantais
Ellos/as se levantan
Remember that in Spanish you do not need to use the subject
( yo, tú….) so saying for instance ,me
lavo, is perfectly correct.
These are the basics about reflexive verbs. Soon you will
get some activities and a
new post about position of the reflexive pronouns and other uses of it.
If you want to practise more I offer Spanish lessons in
Liverpool at all levels, for more info visit:
www.yospanishschool.co.uk
Saludos
Javier
Profesor de
español en Yo Spanish
Spanish lessons and courses in Liverpool
