Reflexive verbs in Spanish
- Verbos reflexivos en español
There are some sentences in which the same person does and receives the action.
The action affects the subject itself, the person or thing we are talking about: someone does something and receives the action.
La chica se peina -
The girl combs her hair
Yo me afeito -
I shave (myself)
It is possible to express this reflexive information thanks to pronouns.
How are reflexive verbs conjugated?
The general structure is:
SUBJECT + REFLEXIVE PRONOUN + CONJUGATED VERB
Let's look at an example, using the verb LEVANTAR (Get up), in the present tense.
Sujeto
Pronombre
Verbo
Yo
me
levanto
Tu
te
levantas
Vos
te
levantás
Usted
se
levanta
Él
se
levanta
Ella
se
levanta
Nosotros
nos
levantamos
Nosotras
nos
levantamos
Vosotros
os
levantáis
Vosotras
os
levantáis
Ustedes
se
levantan
Ellos
se
levantan
Ellas
se
levantan
Reflexive or non-reflexive?
Depending on who receives the action, the same verb can be reflexive or non-reflexive. Let's look at the following example:
El barbero afeita a su cliente. - The barber shaves his client
Él se afeita. - He shaves himself.