Regarding the use of pronouns: is "me" redundant?
I am trying to complete an exercise for Spanish class but am confused by this statement: "De lunes a viernes me levanto a las 8..." I understand the statement but don't understand the need for "me" if the conjucation of the infinitive verb levantar, to levanto, already indicates the subject of the action. I understand in similar contexts that "yo" is ued only for emphasis. What's the difference between yo and me and can they both be dropped? I am confused... would really appreciate anyone's help
4 Answers
Hello, and welcome to the forum. Levantarse is what's called a reflexive verb. Many 'morning routine' verbs are reflexive, like peinarse (to comb your hair) and ducharse (to take a shower). You do them to someone (usually yourself), so you need to use me, te, se, nos, or os to indicate to whom they are done. For a vague English equivalent, think "I bathe myself" or, in the case of levantarse, "I get myself up." Here's a link to a page that talks about reflexive verbs.
Levantar means to lift, not 'to get up'. Levantarse is the verb to get up, or literally, lift up oneself.
Simply saying "Levanto" means "I lift" or "I Raise"...It would be like dropping the 'get' from 'get' up- which if you think about it, makes a lot less sense ('getting up') than the Spanish 'to-raise-oneself'. How do you 'get' an 'up'?
Anyways I could complain about English's use of auxiliary words because of lacking meaningful verbs all day but I will just leave it at that haha.
"Me levanto" is very different from "(yo) levanto". The first means I get myself up; the second means I lift something. The "yo" is optional; the "me" is not.
Already answered.
