Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns

Reflexive verbs are verbs that show that the subject (doer) of the sentence does the action (verb) talked about in the sentence to himself / herself. To indicate a reflexive action, the and the object pronoun must agree with one another.

The reflexive pronouns are:

me myself

te yourself (informal, singular)

se himself, herself, itself, yourself (Ud. form)

nos ourselves

se themselves, yourselves

Examples:

Yo me baño. This sentence is reflexive because the “doer” is “I” (Note the “o” ending on the verb.) and the object pronoun or “receiver” is also “I” expressed in the “myself” form ( in Spanish, “me”). This sentence says “I bathe myself” and is reflexive.

Mi mamá me baña. This sentence says “My mother bathes me”. It is not reflexive because the “doer” (mother) is not the receiver of the action of the verb. (Note that the “a” ending on the verb corresponds to “she” while the object pronoun or “receiver” is “me”. To be reflexive, this sentence would have had to say, “Mi mamá se baña.”

COMMON REFLEXIVE VERBS

All verbs are required knowledge for Spanish 2

acostarse to go to bed

afeitarse to shave

arreglarse to get ready

asustarse to be frightened

bañarse to bathe

callarse to be silent / to be still

cepillarse to brush

cortarse to have cut/get cut

darse prisa to be in a hurry

desayunarse*to eat breakfast

despertarse to awaken

dormirse to fall asleep

divertirse to have fun

enfadarse to get angry

enojarse to get angry

equivocarse to be mistaken

irse to go away / leave

lavarse to wash

levantarse to get up

llamarse to be called/named

maquillarse to put on makeup

marcharse to go away / leave

pasearse* to take a walk

peinarse to comb one’s hair

pintarse to put on makeup

ponerse to put on/become

quedarse to remain

quitarse to take off

secarse to dry oneself

sentarse to sit down

sentirse to feel

vestirse to dress oneself