Why is this reflexive?

Question

Here is another sentence from my homework....(so please forgive the subject pronoun)

Tú te has quejado de que la comida te cayó mal.

You complained to yourself that the food was lousy???? huh??

Why is this te has quejado?

te quejes? - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 12, 2010

Answer 1

"Quejarse" is not reflexive, but pronominal, meaning that the pronoun goes along with the verb for no good reason (there is one, but the story is too long). There is absolutely nothing reflexive about this verb. Furthermore, if you add "a mí mismo" (to myself), you change the meaning from "to complain" (to others) to "to complain to myself".

Those who call pronominal verbs reflexive are responsible for causing a lot of confusion among learners of Spanish. There are no reflexive verbs. There are reflexive pronouns that you use with "normal" verbs for different reasons. Some of these reflexive pronouns are simply object pronouns that refer to the subject of the sentence, and they are translated as "myself, etc." or "to one another". The rest of the "se" cannot be translated directly into English as a single word, and they are not reflexive. Grammatically speaking, some of them can be called "medial" and other words, but not reflexive.

Claro, el ´se´ cuasirreflejo de la voz media. Creo que hay una convención tácita de llamar ´reflexive verbs´ a los Verbos pronominales con pronombres reflexivos para allanar el camino en los primeros niveles de aprendizaje. - mediterrunio, Nov 13, 2010

Thank you, Lazarus. As usual, I only understand about 80% of what you are saying, but it's enough to put me on the right track. - Echoline, Nov 13, 2010

Answer 2

Tú te has quejado de que la comida te cayó mal would be a correct Spanish sentence.

You have complained that the food made you sick.

reflexive verbs do not always have a reason why and are not always translated with a - self word in English.

Thank you. Perhaps Spanish speakers figured out long before the rest of us that when we complain no one else really listens :-) - Echoline, Nov 12, 2010

lol - mediterrunio, Nov 12, 2010

ja ja :) - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 12, 2010

haha - dewclaw, Nov 13, 2010

Answer 3

And this:

Different types of reflexive verbs

Reflexive only: A few verbs occur only in pronominal form, they use the reflexive pronouns but are not reflexive in meaning:

atreverse (dare (have the courage) to) No me atrevo a escalar esa montaña.

jactarse (de) (brag) No debes jactarte de tus notas.

quejarse (de) (complain) Mi trabajo es muy interesante; no me puedo quejar de nada.

Thank you. Interesting! - Echoline, Nov 12, 2010

Answer 4

Just because lol - because it's quejarSE not just quejar so you use it with a pronoun.. Quejarse

Thank you M-C. When I looked it up in the SD dict. it also had quejar by itself, so I had no idea when to use what! - Echoline, Nov 12, 2010

yes it is a weird one, I did find a bit more info below that you might find helpful - seems like you're not alone wondering what's going on with those two :) - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 12, 2010

Answer 5

It looks like you're not the only one confused - with good reason If quejarse means to complain what does quejar mean?

RAE quejar. (Del lat. *quassiare, de quassare, golpear violentamente, quebrantar). 1. tr. aquejar. 2. prnl. Expresar con la voz el dolor o pena que se siente. 3. prnl. Dicho de una persona: Manifestar el resentimiento que tiene de otra. 4. prnl. Manifestar disconformidad con algo o alguien. 5. prnl. Presentar querella.

complain. (Del lat. * Quassiare of quassare, smite, break). 1. tr. afflict. 2. prnl. Express the voice of pain and sorrow you feel. 3. prnl. Said one person: To express the resentment is another. 4. prnl. Express disagreement with someone or something. 5. prnl. Submit complaint.

This might help though: Quejarse is inherently reflexive

[Quejarse][2]

[2]: http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=yyqU_tXek1EC&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=is+quejar+reflexive&source=bl&ots=Hpoq7tP0Rs&sig=X1HZAMkpCC8eRaLlyYObBbschLg&hl=en&ei=TAveTPm-AcbCcZrtsJcM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=is quejar reflexive&f=false

I'm not sure what's going on with that second link but it still seems to work if you cut and paste it :) - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 12, 2010

Lordy, M-C, that is way over my head. All I know is that the SD dict. has quejar by itself. And that confused me. - Echoline, Nov 12, 2010

ja ja :) - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 13, 2010

Answer 6

That sentence is wrong...

it could be...

te quejaste que la comida te cayó mal

or

te has quejado que la comida te cayó mal

and MC is right... quejarse is reflexive... I don't think "quejar" by itself is used often.

Thank you. That was my mistake. I typed it wrong. I fixed it. I can accept the answer, "it's just one of those things..." - Echoline, Nov 12, 2010