Reflexive verbs can cause confusion amongst Spanish students. But they don’t have to.
As a follow up to the previous podcast episodes on Spanish verbs, this episode presents the reflexive form of Spanish verbs. In order to get a good understanding of reflexive verbs, we need to start back a the most basic sentence structure. Have a listen to today’s podcast to see how you can start to use these types of verbs in your Spanish conversations.
In tip number 7, I broke the types of Spanish verbs down into two groups of three.
Group 1:
- Ar verbs
- Er verbs
- Ir verbs
Group 2:
- Normal verbs
- Verbs like Gustar (discussed in tip number 7)
- Reflexive verbs (in today’s tip)
Reflexive verbs are formed when the subject and object of a sentence are the same thing. They could apply whether the subject is a person, place or thing. What you need to know to form reflexive verbs is a different form of Spanish pronoun.
The Spanish pronouns for reflexive verbs are called object pronouns and are as follows:
- Me – Me
- Te –You
- Se – Him / Her
- Nos – Us
- Os – You-all
- Se – Them
As you can see, these are very similar to the indirect object pronouns discussed in the earlier episode for use with verbs like gustar.
One thing to note with Spanish verbs, in general, is that the majority of verbs can be used in both a normal or reflexive form. But it is not worth getting hung up on lots of different verb forms, for conversation hacking, it is worth knowing the high use reflexive verbs first. So become familiar with the verbs discussed in today’s episode before you start to worry about the thousand of reflexive verb possibilities.
Verbs discussed in the episode:
- Llamarse – To call oneself
- Irse – To go away / to leave
- Acordarse – To remember
- Levantarse – To get out of bed
- Quejarse – To complain
Examples from the episode:
I speak with you – Yo hablo contigo
I’m hungry – Yo tengo hambre
I like the tapas – Me gustan las tapas
My name is (I call myself) – Me llamo Andrew
How do you call yourself – ¿Cómo te llamas?
I call you over Skype – Te llamo por Skype
I go to the market – Voy al mercado
I have to … = Tengo que …
I have to leave = Tengo que irme
You have to go = Tienes que irte
I have to go to the market = Tengo que ir al mercado
We agree to speak in private = Acordamos hablar en privado
I agree = Estoy de acuerdo
I don’t remember = No me acuerdo
I lift something from the table = Levanto algo de la mesa
I get myself out of bed = Me levanto de la cama
I don’t want to complain = No quiero quejarme
My friend complains a lot = Mi amigo se queja mucho
It’s better not to complain = Es mejor no quejarse
Quote from the podcast episode:
“Los que se quejan de la forma como rebota la pelota, son aquellos que no la saben golpear.” – José Ingenieros (1877-1925)
Additional Bonus Examples For Extra Practice:
What are they called? – ¿Cómo se llaman?
I leave the house (I am away from home) – Me voy de la casa
I get out of bed at 7 am – Me levanto de la cama a las siete
When are you going to get out of bed? – ¿Cuándo se levanta de la cama?
Why do you complain? – ¿Por qué te quejas?
Do you remember when we have to leave? – ¿Te acuerdas cuando nos tenemos que ir?
Verbs that are reflexive end in “se” in the conversation hacking guide you can see the verbs mentioned in this episode with the (se) in brackets and the alternative meaning in English also highlighted in brackets.
How else can you use these reflexive verbs?
Podcast: Play in new window
Hi, I’m really enjoying the podcasts. It’s an unusual approach, which suits my pragmatic learning style, so thank you. This (reflexive verbs) is my consistent problem area. I’m going to focus on this article and the podcast episode until I feel more comfortable with the concept. I know my confidence will improve considerably if I can master this part of the language.
Thanks Alan for your support. Reflexive verbs can be tricky, there’s no doubt. It helps when you try to think about who or what is the subject and the object of the sentence. When they are the same it’s reflexive. The most difficult past is when the verb changes meaning from it’s normal to reflexive form. Stick to the examples I gave in the episode they are really common in spoken Spanish.
Thanks Andrew. I think it’s getting clearer now. Would you have a quick look at this please?
“Normalmente, me despierto a las siete y media. Me ducho a las ocho menos cuarto. Me vestido a las ocho. Yo salgo a las ocho y cuarto.”
I wake myself, I shower myself, I dress myself, I leave (the house).
Also, cuarto is a noun, but as it’s a part of hora, should it change to cuarta to match the gender?
I think you have reflexive verbs covered 🙂
Only thing is “me visto” = “I get dressed”.
Or in a different context you could say “me he vestido” = “I have gotten dressed”.
You can check your verb conjugation in lots of different places, my favourite is here:
http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation
The last question is a good one. ‘Cuarto’ is a noun in the context of telling the time, it’s part of a larger phrase “un cuarto de hora”. But ‘media’ is an adjective in the context of telling the time, it’s part of a larger phrase “una media hora”.
So adjectives match the gender of the noun, ‘media’ is doing this. Nouns have their own gender as in ‘cuarto’ and don’t change unless they are nouns representing people or animals (eg chico, chica, perro, perra etc.). Or a few rare exceptions.
Last thing, ‘cuarto’ can be an adjective as in “la cuarta casa” = “the fourth house” but to reiterate it is a noun in the context of telling the time.
Thank you so much Andrew.
Of course, ‘vestido’ is past tense, not present. And vestir is irregular too, in that the e becomes i in the yo form.
Cheers!
Thanks Andrew ..it was a good one …the Podcast part mainly. My teacher once taught me this – and I was super confused. It’s been 2 months. And today it made more sense and I believe I got everything with Reflexive verbs now by joining my teacher’s lessons and your lesson. Actually, having watched your earlier Post on Gustar type verbs and your clear grouping in Group2 of verbs made is super clear. It’s not intimidating anymore. Thanks again!
Awesome, thanks Satvinder, I’m so glad to hear that it is clear for you now 🙂
Your explanations are great. However, the thing I’m still having a hard time with is why some verbs are reflexive in the first place. I mean, I get it that it’s another language and you just have to accept that some things just are the way they are. But why is “to complain” reflexive? You’re not complaining about yourself or to yourself. Do you see what I mean? It’s just not intuitive for me.
Hola Ruth, in a way, you have answered your own question, sometimes we just have to accept that some things are the way they are. In English “I’m up for” and “I’m down for” mean the same thing, why is that?!? We can also say “I did it” or “I did it myself”. In a similar way, we could argue “I’m not doing it to myself” or “I’m not doing it about myself”. Instead, “I did it myself” tells us something about the “doing” that goes beyond just “I did it”. So, for someone learning English “I did it myself” may not be logical or intuitive. But, your job as a Spanish student is to simply know what the correct sentence is, what it means, and then you just have to remember it. Whether something is logical or intuitive, we can leave that researches in linguistics to figure out.
Lol, how right you are! It’s just hard for me to remember that some verbs are reflexive when it’s not intuitive. I try to think about all the odd expressions we have in English and how hard it must be for people to learn our language. Last night my husband was watching football and said, “How do you say ‘which team are you rooting for’ in Spanish?” I laughed and said I don’t think that’s going to be a direct translation. (Then I looked it up and learned a new verb!) Being from the South, I still say “fixing to.” I’m sure that would stump a lot of English learners!
Yes, absolutely!! 😊 In Australia, we say “barracking for” instead of “rooting for”, so each language definitely has its own challenges.