Reciprocal Reflexives, which endings to use?

Question

I am confused on Reciprocal Reflexives, I read http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100023/reciprocal-verbs

but where can I learn the endings and when yo use them?

for example: Las amigas se saludaron y se besaron

vs. Antonio y yo nos besamos

Which endings are used in what situation?

Answer 1

The term "reciprocal verb" is somewhat of a misnomer. We had a similar thread discussing the use of the term "reflexive verbs". Reciprocal verbs are just the same as any other verb. They are being used reciprocally. (a form of pronominal use- a reflexive pronoun is used in conjunction with the verb in the construction.)

Since the reciprocal requires plural (each other, one another, uno a otro, ourselves, yourselves, themselves) context the reflexive pronouns will be nos, os, se.

ourselves=nos

yourselves (vosotoros)=os

themselves, yourselves(ustedes)=se

Great explanation Q - Izanoni1, Dec 12, 2009

Answer 2

Hi Sahilk and welcome to the forum,

For your specific question, one sentence is talking about what we did and the other is talking about what they did. This would be the first person plural and 3rd person plural respectively and could be conjugated in any tense. Try the conjugation tool if you are unfamiliar with the various conjugations

Las amigas se saludaron y se besaron

The friends greeted and kissed one another

Antonio y yo nos besamos

Antonio and I kissed each other

This is from previous post on the subject:

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Reflexive pronouns can also have a reciprocal meaning: each other/one another.

Se bañaron can mean either

They bathed (themselves) - [reflexive] or

They bathed (each other) - [reciprocal]

To avoid confusion, it is often necessary to add a phrase such as:

a sí mismos - [reflexive]

el uno al otro or los unos a los otros - [reciprocal]

So the phrases above become:

Se bañaron a sí mismos - They bathed themselves (They took baths)

Se bañaron el uno al otro - They bathed one another (They gave each other baths)

Here is a link to the full discussion if you are interested: http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/106797/pronominal-verbsreflexive-pronouns

Answer 3

Hi Sahik. Welcome to the forum.

Here's an article that explains Reciprocal Reflexives.

Nice link Marianne - Izanoni1, Dec 12, 2009