Verbos reflexivos: instructions for use (Ep. 41)

¡Hola, my dear Spanish beginner! ¿Do you know what are verbos reflexivos?

Maybe you have never heard about them but they have been among us for several centuries. In fact, it’s likely that you have already taken a coffe with them but you do not remember its name.

They are called «verbos reflexivos» and I am going to explain you how you can use them.

Myself, yourself, themselves… are reflexive

In English you can use myself, yourself, themselves… to express an action whose receiver is the same person who makes the action.

He looked himself in the mirror [REFLEXIVE] vs. He looked at them [NOT REFLEXIVE]

-AR, -ER, -IR + SE

This kind of verb does not end in -AR, -ER, -IR, but in pronombre SE.

MIRARSE, DUCHARSE, DORMIRSE, BEBERSE

Verbos reflexivos regulares e irregulares

Basic rule to distinguish when is regular or irregular: if you take off pronombre SE of the infinitive and you conjugate it in any verb tense and is irregular, it will be also irregular in reflexive form.

And if it is regular when you conjugate it, it will be also regular in its reflexive form.

HABLAR (to talk) vs. HABLARSE (to talk itself) = Yo hablo, tú hablas, el habla… yo me hablo, tú te hablas, el se habla… (REGULAR)

AFEITAR (to shave someone or something) vs. AFEITARSE (to shave itself) = Yo afeito, tú afeitas, él afeita… (IRREGULAR) yo me afeito, tú te afeitas, el se afeita… (IRREGULAR)

Pronombre SE has other uses in Spanish

Our fantastic pronombre SE has other uses.

However, for the moment, my dear Spanish beginner, just try to memorize that every time that you want to express one action whose receive is the same person, you will have to use un verbo reflexivo.

And every verbo reflexivo needs this fantastic pronoun SE.