I cut my mouth - reflexive or not?
I'm having difficulty trying to determine whether to use a reflexive verb. Would this be a reflexive statement or not? Could someone help me with the most grammatically correct translation please?
- Corté mi boca.
- Corté la boca.
- Me corté la boca.
I'm leaning toward the third one, but I need someone with more experience than I have.
Gracias, Rachel
2 Answers
I'm having difficulty trying to determine whether to use a reflexive verb. Would this be a reflexive statement or not? Could someone help me with the most grammatically correct translation please?
- Corté mi boca.
- Corté la boca.
- Me corté la boca.
There is no reflexive verb here, but a reflexive indirect object that goes along with a normal verb. "Corté mi boca" sounds alien to us, because we use the possessive with things that we own, but not with parts of the body or our clothes. In this case, it sounds almost like you had a mouth kept in a drawer or something, you took a knife and you cut it ("your" mouth.) However, this work pretty well with prosthetic dentures, where you can wash or break "mis dientes (postizos)".
"Corté la boca" is even worse, because you don't even know what mouth you cut. Finally, in "Me corté la boca", "me" indicates the person who is affected by the action, and "la boca", together with "me", clarifies the owner of the mouth.
You're right. The best is, "Me corté la boca."
