The Everything Spanish Grammar Book: All The Rules You Need To Master Espanol (Everything®) by Julie Gutin Page A
Authors: Julie Gutin
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conjugation in person and number: él se afeita (he shaves himself), nosotros nos lavamos (we wash ourselves).
Reflexives aren’t common in English. You could say “I know myself,” but there’s no need to say “I dress myself”—we generally use “I get dressed” instead. In Spanish, reflexives are much more common.
Reflexive Verbs
aburrirse
to be bored
acordarse
to remember
acostarse
to go to bed
afeitarse
to shave
alegrarse
to be happy
bañarse
to take a bath
cepillarse (los dientes, el cabello)
to brush (teeth, hair)
enojarse
to get angry
enterarse
to find out
fiarse de
to trust
lavarse
to wash
maquillarse
to put on makeup
molestarse
to get annoyed
mudarse
to move (change residence)
negarse a
to refuse
parecerse
to resemble
ponerse
to put on
quebrarse
to break (a bone)
quedarse
to remain
quemarse
to burn (oneself)
quitarse
to take off
romperse (la ropa)
to tear (clothes)
vestirse
to get dressed
Me ducho por las noches.
I take showers at night.
¿Usted se sorprende por las noticias?
Are you surprised by the news?
Some verbs are always used reflexively, but many more are reflexive only some of the time. In some cases, their meaning changes significantly. Here are some examples:
acercar (to move something closer)
acercarse (to approach)
arreglar (to arrange)
arreglarse (to get ready)
colocar (to put)
colocarse (to get a job, to find one’s place)
despedir (to fire)
despedirse (to say goodbye)
detener (to bring to a halt)
deternerse (to come to a halt)
dormir (to sleep)
dormirse (to go to sleep)
lastimar (to hurt)
lastimarse (to bother oneself)
levantar (to raise, pick up)
levantarse (to get up)
reunir (to join, gather)
reunirse (to get together)
It’s Reciprocal
Reflexive constructions are also used to indicate reciprocity. In English, this is done with the phrase “each other.” A good example is the verb casarse (to get married):
Nos casamos hoy.
We are getting married today. (We are marrying each other today.)
In this case, nos is used reciprocally, rather than reflexively. Otherwise the sentence would mean “We are marrying ourselves today.”
FACT
Reflexive verbs are most often used to talk about what is done to one’s body, about one’s emotions, and actions of motion: getting dressed ( vestirse ), to get angry ( enfadarse ), to jump ( tirarse ).
Make It Impersonal
Third-person reflexive pronoun se may be used in an impersonal construction se + verb. This is another alternative to using the passive voice, when you prefer not to specify who performs the action of the verb. Here is how you can change a sentence to make it impersonal:
La gente en Brasil habla portugués.
People in Brazil speak Portuguese.
En Brasil se habla portugués.
Portuguese is spoken in Brazil.
In the second sentence, se refers to Brazilians and habla is conjugated in third-person singular to agree with portugués. This constructions allows us to avoid having to refer specifically to Brazilian people as the subject of the verb hablar .
Here are other examples of this construction:
Se buscan empleados.
Employees are being looked for.
Se ven los problemas.
The problems are obvious.
Impersonal se constructions are often used in public signs: No se fuma. (No smoking.)
Practice Makes Perfect
Fill in the direct object pronoun:
1. No tengo dinero. ____________________ dejé en casa.
2. ____________________ dijeron (a mí) que llegará más tarde.
3. El taxista ____________________ llevará (a ti) a casa.
4. Aquí tienes la revista. ____________________ puedes leer más tarde.
5. Tengo muchas novelas. ____________________ prefiero a la literatura no novelesca.
Fill in the direct and indirect object pronoun:
1. La enfermera trae las pastillas a nosotros.
____________________ trae.
2. Ellos necesitan ayuda.
¿ ____________________das?
3. Quieres conducir el coche.
Yo ____________________presto.
4. Ellos dicen la verdad a vosotros.
Ellos ____________________dicen.
5. Explico el cuento a Marta y Pedro.
Reflexives aren’t common in English. You could say “I know myself,” but there’s no need to say “I dress myself”—we generally use “I get dressed” instead. In Spanish, reflexives are much more common.
Reflexive Verbs
aburrirse
to be bored
acordarse
to remember
acostarse
to go to bed
afeitarse
to shave
alegrarse
to be happy
bañarse
to take a bath
cepillarse (los dientes, el cabello)
to brush (teeth, hair)
enojarse
to get angry
enterarse
to find out
fiarse de
to trust
lavarse
to wash
maquillarse
to put on makeup
molestarse
to get annoyed
mudarse
to move (change residence)
negarse a
to refuse
parecerse
to resemble
ponerse
to put on
quebrarse
to break (a bone)
quedarse
to remain
quemarse
to burn (oneself)
quitarse
to take off
romperse (la ropa)
to tear (clothes)
vestirse
to get dressed
Me ducho por las noches.
I take showers at night.
¿Usted se sorprende por las noticias?
Are you surprised by the news?
Some verbs are always used reflexively, but many more are reflexive only some of the time. In some cases, their meaning changes significantly. Here are some examples:
acercar (to move something closer)
acercarse (to approach)
arreglar (to arrange)
arreglarse (to get ready)
colocar (to put)
colocarse (to get a job, to find one’s place)
despedir (to fire)
despedirse (to say goodbye)
detener (to bring to a halt)
deternerse (to come to a halt)
dormir (to sleep)
dormirse (to go to sleep)
lastimar (to hurt)
lastimarse (to bother oneself)
levantar (to raise, pick up)
levantarse (to get up)
reunir (to join, gather)
reunirse (to get together)
It’s Reciprocal
Reflexive constructions are also used to indicate reciprocity. In English, this is done with the phrase “each other.” A good example is the verb casarse (to get married):
Nos casamos hoy.
We are getting married today. (We are marrying each other today.)
In this case, nos is used reciprocally, rather than reflexively. Otherwise the sentence would mean “We are marrying ourselves today.”
FACT
Reflexive verbs are most often used to talk about what is done to one’s body, about one’s emotions, and actions of motion: getting dressed ( vestirse ), to get angry ( enfadarse ), to jump ( tirarse ).
Make It Impersonal
Third-person reflexive pronoun se may be used in an impersonal construction se + verb. This is another alternative to using the passive voice, when you prefer not to specify who performs the action of the verb. Here is how you can change a sentence to make it impersonal:
La gente en Brasil habla portugués.
People in Brazil speak Portuguese.
En Brasil se habla portugués.
Portuguese is spoken in Brazil.
In the second sentence, se refers to Brazilians and habla is conjugated in third-person singular to agree with portugués. This constructions allows us to avoid having to refer specifically to Brazilian people as the subject of the verb hablar .
Here are other examples of this construction:
Se buscan empleados.
Employees are being looked for.
Se ven los problemas.
The problems are obvious.
Impersonal se constructions are often used in public signs: No se fuma. (No smoking.)
Practice Makes Perfect
Fill in the direct object pronoun:
1. No tengo dinero. ____________________ dejé en casa.
2. ____________________ dijeron (a mí) que llegará más tarde.
3. El taxista ____________________ llevará (a ti) a casa.
4. Aquí tienes la revista. ____________________ puedes leer más tarde.
5. Tengo muchas novelas. ____________________ prefiero a la literatura no novelesca.
Fill in the direct and indirect object pronoun:
1. La enfermera trae las pastillas a nosotros.
____________________ trae.
2. Ellos necesitan ayuda.
¿ ____________________das?
3. Quieres conducir el coche.
Yo ____________________presto.
4. Ellos dicen la verdad a vosotros.
Ellos ____________________dicen.
5. Explico el cuento a Marta y Pedro.
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