What is the difference between pelear and pelearse?
One translate as "to fight" while the other translates as "to scuffle" or "to come to blows with" I don't really see how those definitions tell me when to chose the reflexive form.
1 Answer
Alone they may or may not, but looking at the dictionary entry can tell you more.
Pelear can be use both transitively and intransitively.
Pelearse can be used reflexively or pronominally.
Some verbs can't be used in all of these forms. Pelear(se) can and in some cases it changes the meaning of the verb. [ Look at the verb gustar. You will see that it can be used transitively or intransitively (with different meanings), but it has no uses pronominally nor reflexively.]
So if you wanted to say:
The police fight crime. Is it pelear or pelearse?
The verb in our sentence is being used transitively (there is a direct object in the sentence). Check to see that pelear being used transitively means to fight. It does. Therefore, it must be pelear; not pelearse.
The police fight. (intransitive. Intransitive pelear means to fight. Again, it's pelear.
If I wanted to say the the two women were quarreling with each other I would first look to see if pelear could be used reflexively and if its reflexive meaning was what I wanted. According to the dictionary pelear can be used reflexively/reciprocally), but its meaning is physical not just quarreling (arguing). Since that didn't work I look to pronominal uses and I see that a pronominal meaning is to argue (so does the intransitive, but I want the reciprocal (with each other)) so I have to go with pelearse.
So you have to first see if the verb can be used as you want to (e.g. transitive, etc.) and then you must see if it has the meaning that you want to use when in that construction. If so, use it.
