"reflexive"??
I'm just wondering, people way that there is no such thing as a reflexive verb, but on the reference, it says.. "Reflexive verbs are made up of an infinitive and a reflexive pronoun." So.... What am I supposed to say? So is it just that the verb is already there, but there are just some verbs that can be reflexive..? And is that what it means in the conjugation section here when it says it can be reflexive(or not)?
What does it really mean then, to be "reflexive"?
Also, then if I put a verb, and add ~se to the end of the word, would it mean "to ~(whatever the origial verb means) my/him/her/it self?" And once I conjugated it, I would put out the ~se to the front, conjugate it along with the verb, and presto??
Then does that mean the verb(along with the ~se) is an infinitive??
I'm sorry,... It's just really hard trying to learn alone without a teacher... Wish me the best of luck! ^^
6 Answers
The term "reflexive" means -and it is understood as- you do something to yourself. If you say "Me mira" (he/she looks at me), it is just the verb "mirar", but if I say "Me miro" (I look at me, or better translated: I look at myself), this time it is I who is seeing me. This coincidence between subject and object is what is called reflexivity: the action reflects upon oneself.
However, I find it silly to say that "Me mira" (He/she looks at me) is an object plus a verb, and "Me miro" (I look at 'me', or better translated: I look at myself) is a reflexive verb, since both of them have the same object and use the same verb. There is no reflexive verb, but a pronoun that happens to coincide with the subject, and in this cases it is said to work as a reflexive. Since there is only one "me", so I see myself, and there is no room for confusion, but in "Lo ve" (he/she sees him/it), that "lo" (him/it) can only refer to a different person (or thing), so a special pronoun must be used only for a third person refering to himself/herself. This special pronoun is reflexive, but this doesn't mean that the verb reflexive: "Lo mira" (He/she sees it/him) and "Se mira" (He/she sees he/she, or better translated: he sees himself / she sees herself) is the same verb, and in the first case there is no reflexivity at all, so why call it reflexive?
Writing for “espanol-ingles.com.mx” the writer Neil Coffey has this to say about pronominal verbs of which he calls reflexives a subset:
Pronominal verbs, often (misleadingly) called reflexive verbs, are verbs in which a "pronoun" clitic is inserted that agrees with the subject. The term reflexive is often used to cover all these verbs, because a helpful notion for understanding them is that "the object of the verb is the same thing/person as the subject". Strictly speaking, reflexive verbs can be seen as a subset of pronominal verbs.
The infinitive of pronominal verbs has the clitic “se” added to the end: lavarse, bañarse, esconderse, hartarse etc.
You can read Neil Coffey’s one page article here ----> Pronominal Verbs When you read through his article, you will see that not all pronominal verbs are also reflexive verbs. It is fairer to say that all (so-called) reflexives are pronominal
You have to be careful when someone uses the term reflexive verb. You must ask them directly what they mean or glean it from context.
Some people mean any pronominal use of a verb (used in conjunction with a reflexive pronoun) when they refer to a reflexive verb. This is what the article is referring to. However, a verb being used pronominally can be conjugated, it need not be an infinitive with with a reflexive pronoun attached to it. The article is referring to infinitive with a "se" attached to it like despertarse. La lluvia se detuvo. would also be a verb being used pronominally. The verb is not pronominal in itself. It is just being used pronominally (with a reflexive pronoun).
Others mean that the pronominal usage is as a truly reflexive usage where the subject and the object both receive the action of the verb.
Still others only call verbs that can only be used pronominally as reflexive verbs. There are some verbs that cannot be used reflexively (not pronominally, but reflexively).
I bet that confused more that helped. Suffice it to say we need to be a lot more precise when we throw around the terms pronominal verb and reflexive verb. What we actually mean is the verb is being used pronominally or reflexively. There are no reflexive or pronominal verbs per se, but it all depends on which of the definitions above that you are referring to. If you use the definition that distinguishes between verbs that can only be used pronominally versus those that may be used pronominally, then there are actually reflexive verbs and other verbs.
Here's a very simple introduction to reflexive verbs, explained without all the grammar terminology.
The term "reflexive verb" is an unfortunately popular term to describe "pronominal verbs."
Pronominal verbs are verbs whose meanings are somehow affected by being used in conjunction with a pronoun. Pronominal verbs will usually have a separate listing in the dictionary.
One good example is comer, which means to eat. Comerse means to eat it all up.
Comí la comida = I ate the food.
Me comí la comida = I ate the food all up.
Comer is a good example because it would be considered a "reflexive verb" (what they meant is a verb whose meaning changes with use of a reflexive pronoun), but this particular pronominal use of comer does not have a reflexive meaning (it doesn't mean I ate myself, which would be stupid).
If the verbs are called "reflexive verbs" we Spanish learners leave thinking the meaning is reflexive and get confused.
This marks the day the term "reflexive verb" dies.. QDP
