Me levanté, me duché y me lavé los dientes: reflexivity and reciprocity in Spanish verbs and other pronominal verbs.
erbal reflexivity is a grammatical phenomenon in which the verbal action falls upon the grammatical subject, that is, by definition, on the one who executes the verbal action. While this is the broadest definition, we will see in examples that in practice the action can fall upon the grammatical subject itself, on a part of their body, or on the clothes they are wearing. The use of reflexive verbs implies the use of reflexive pronouns that can never be omitted, as their omission removes the meaning of the sentence or changes it. In this article, we will look at reflexive pronouns, frequently used reflexive verbs and examples, and we will also see another grammatical phenomenon in Spanish: verbal reciprocity. Additionally, we will look at other pronominal verbs. The good news is that when we use these other groups of verbs, the pronouns are the same. Let's go!
Reflexive pronouns
The order of the sentence
Although in several articles we have already seen that word order in Spanish is quite flexible, in this case it is important to point out that reflexive pronouns always precede the conjugated form of the verb and, as we mentioned above, unlike personal pronouns, they can never be omitted.
(Yo) me bañé. I took a bath. / I bathed (myself).
(Ellas) se lavaron los dientes. They brushed their teeth.
In the case of compound verb forms, the reflexive pronoun precedes the auxiliary verb.
(Yo) me he bañado. I have taken a bath. / I have bathed (myself).
(Ellas) se han lavado los dientes. They have brushed their teeth.
Commonly used reflexive verbs
The paradigm of reflexive verbs in Spanish are verbs of daily routine. Let’s see some examples.
Despertarse: Me despierto a las 7 de la mañana todos los días. To wake up: I wake up at 7 in the morning every day.
Levantarse: Mi hermana se levanta temprano para ir a trabajar. To get up: My sister gets up early to go to work.
Ducharse/bañarse: Me ducho después de hacer ejercicio. To shower/to bathe: I shower after exercising.
Lavarse: Los niños se lavan las manos antes de comer. To wash oneself: The children wash their hands before eating.
Vestirse: Se viste muy elegante para las reuniones. To dress oneself: He/She dresses very elegantly for meetings.
Peinarse: Ana se peina frente al espejo cada mañana. To comb one’s hair: Ana combs her hair in front of the mirror every morning.
Maquillarse: Se maquilla rápidamente antes de salir. To put on makeup: She puts on makeup quickly before going out.
Afeitarse: Mi padre se afeita cada dos días. To shave oneself: My father shaves every two days.
Cepillarse: Me cepillo los dientes después de cada comida. To brush oneself: I brush my teeth after every meal.
Acostarse: Nos acostamos tarde los fines de semana. To go to bed: We go to bed late on weekends.
Dormirse: El bebé se duerme después de tomar su leche. To fall asleep: The baby falls asleep after drinking his milk.
These verbs are reflexive when the verbal action falls on the subject, but they are not reflexive when the action falls on something or someone else, as in Le lavé las ventanillas al auto (I washed the car windows) in contrast with Me lavé las manos (I washed my hands). In particular, the verb dormir in its pronominal form has two meanings: dormirse means to fall asleep, as in Ayer me dormí a las diez de la noche (Yesterday I fell asleep at ten o’clock at night), and it also means not waking up in time to do something we were supposed to do, Llegué tarde a la clase porque me dormí. I arrived late to class because I overslept. In its non-pronominal form, dormir means the action of sleeping: Ayer dormí doce horas porque estaba muy cansado. Yesterday I slept twelve hours because I was very tired.
Other reflexive verbs
Sentarse: Se sentó en el sofá a leer un libro. To sit down: He/She sat on the sofa to read a book.
Acercarse: Me acerqué a la ventana para ver mejor. To approach: I approached the window to see better.
Alejarse: Se alejó lentamente del lugar. To move away: He/She moved away slowly from the place.
Detenerse: El coche se detuvo en el semáforo en rojo. To stop: The car stopped at the red traffic light.
Agacharse: Se agachó para recoger las llaves. To bend down: He/She bent down to pick up the keys.
Apoyarse: Se apoyó en la pared porque estaba cansado. To lean: He/She leaned against the wall because he/she was tired.
Esconderse: Los niños se esconden durante el juego. To hide: The children hide during the game.
Verbal reciprocity
Reciprocity refers to when two or more people perform a verbal action mutually with each other. This is only possible in the plural form, so the pronouns nos, os, and se are used, depending on the person. In this case, the pronouns indicate that the action is performed mutually between the participants. Let’s look at examples and a small list of verbs commonly used in this way.
Nosotros nos miramos. We look at each other. Each one of us looks at the other.
Ellas se abrazaron. They hugged each other. Each one hugged the other.
Vosotros os saludáis. You greet each other. Each one greets the other.
Conocerse: Nos conocimos en la universidad hace años. To meet (for the first time): We met at university years ago.
Reunirse: La familia se reúne los domingos para comer. To meet up, to get together: The family gets together on Sundays to eat.
Encontrarse: Nos encontramos casualmente en el supermercado. To run into: We ran into each other by chance at the supermarket.
Despedirse: Se despidió con un abrazo. To say goodbye: He/She said goodbye with a hug.
Besarse: La pareja se besó al despedirse. To kiss: The couple kissed each other when saying goodbye.
Casarse: Se casaron después de cinco años de noviazgo. To get married: They got married after five years of dating.
Divorciarse: Se divorciaron tras muchos problemas. To get divorced: They got divorced after many problems.
There are many verbs that, although not strictly reflexive, require the use of these same pronouns. Some of them are essentially pronominal, meaning that if we do not use the pronouns, the sentence loses its meaning, and in other cases, the use of the same verb without the pronoun changes the meaning of the verb. Let’s look at a list of pronominal verbs and example sentences.
Convertirse: El agua se convierte en hielo a 0 grados. To turn into: Water turns into ice at 0 degrees.
Volverse: Se volvió más responsable con los años. To become: He/She became more responsible over the years.
Hacerse: Se hizo médico después de estudiar mucho. To become: He/She became a doctor after studying a lot.
Ponerse: Se puso nervioso durante la entrevista. To become: He/She became nervous during the interview.
Quedarse: Anoche me quedé en casa. To stay: Last night I stayed home.
Sentirse: Me siento feliz cuando estoy con mis amigos. To feel: I feel happy when I’m with my friends.
Marearse: Se mareó en el barco por el movimiento. To get seasick: He/She got seasick on the boat because of the movement.
Enfermarse: Se enfermó después de caminar bajo la lluvia. To get sick: He/She got sick after walking in the rain.
Recuperarse: Se recuperó rápidamente de la operación. To recover: He/She recovered quickly from the surgery.
Mejorarse: El paciente se mejoró gracias al tratamiento. To get better: The patient got better thanks to the treatment.
Expresarse: Se expresa muy bien en público. To express oneself: He/She expresses himself/herself very well in public.
Disculparse: Se disculpó por llegar tarde. To apologize: He/She apologized for arriving late.
Equivocarse: Me equivoqué al calcular el resultado. To make a mistake: I made a mistake when calculating the result.
Olvidarse: Se olvidó de comprar el pan. To forget: He/She forgot to buy the bread.
Acordarse: ¿Te acuerdas de mi cumpleaños? To remember: Do you remember my birthday?
Arrepentirse: Se arrepintió de sus palabras. To regret: He/She regretted his/her words.
Confundirse: Me confundí con las direcciones. To get confused: I got confused with the directions.
Atreverse: No se atrevió a hablar en la reunión. To dare: He/She didn’t dare to speak at the meeting.
Decidirse: Finalmente se decidió a cambiar de trabajo. To decide: He/She finally decided to change jobs.
A common doubt among Spanish learners is the difference between ir and irse. This difference is actually quite simple: ir means to head toward a place, as in voy a trabajar todos los días en bicicleta (I go to work every day by bike) or ella va al parque todas las tardes (she goes to the park every afternoon), while irse means to leave the place where one is, as in me tengo que ir (I have to leave) or él se fue de la playa porque hacía mucho frío (he left the beach because it was very cold).
Why do reflexive verbs exist?
This phenomenon is, from a linguistic point of view, unnecessary. I say this because in other languages it doesn’t exist, and these languages can perfectly transmit the same messages that in Spanish require the use of these pronouns. Even within the Spanish language itself, there are examples of the same message that can be conveyed with both pronominal and non-pronominal verbs. For example, “recuerdo mis vacaciones en París” and “me acuerdo de mis vacaciones en París” have the same meaning (I remember my vacation in Paris), but “acordarse” is a pronominal verb, therefore we must use the reflexive pronoun, while “recordar” is not, so we don’t have to use it, nor can we use it. This phenomenon derives from Vulgar Latin, in which a middle voice began to develop, intermediate between the active voice and the passive voice. With the evolution to Romance languages, many forms of this middle voice and some of the passive voice derived into reflexive forms and, with the subsequent evolution of the language, what began as a strict reflexive use (action that falls upon the subject) was extended to other semantic functions. Spanish has maintained and expanded this pronominal system, and other Romance languages have developed similar structures.
I hope this article has been interesting and, above all, useful to you. Here are some exercises for you to practice this widely used topic in the Spanish language. Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to write me.
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