Word of the Day: bularse is reflexive. Why?

Question

Okay, just when I thought I understood the concept of reflexive verbs, along comes "bularse." As an example:"I mock you." Is this considered reflexive because I am the one doing the mocking, even though you are the recipient of the action?

It would seem to make sense as a reflexive verb in regards to self-mocking, but when mocking someone or something else? Or is this verb an exception?

Estoy confundido.

Answer 1

The way my grammar book explains it is, some verbs just have different meanings when they are add "se". So burlar means to "evade", but burlarse means to "mock". Another example is "ir" (to go) vs. "irse" (to go away). Nothing especially reflexive about it.

Thinking of "se" as "reflexive" is actually a bit misleading since "se" can actually do a lot of different things -- like making a verb passive, or adding the meaning "to become", or generalizing the meaning to "people" do whatever.

Hope this helps...

• It confirms a suspicion I had. Not that it necessarily makes things less confusing. Thanks! - dogbert Feb 14, 2010