what is a reflexive verb
what's a reflexive verb 
6 Answers
What is a Reflexive Verb?
A verb is said to be reflexive when the person performing the action (action means - to wash, to shave, to shower) and the person upon whom the action is performed is the same person (doing something to oneself).
If we look to a dictionary definition of a reflexive verb, we can find it in The Royal Spanish Academy’s (Commonly referred to as RAE) Dictionary of the Spanish Language (Commonly referresd to as DRAE) where we can find:
First, we need to look to “pronominal verb.” A pronominal is a verb having in all its forms an an unstressed pronoun which agrees with the subject of the verb but which pronoun does not perform any syntactic function in the sentence in which it appears. Some verbs are exclusively pronominal, like the verb “to repent”. Others adopt certain significant or expressive nuances in reflexive forms, like the verbs “to fall” (caer) or “to die” (morir). When you refer to the DRAE, you will observe that the three referenced verb ‘repent’, ‘fall’ and ‘die’ in their pronominal and reflexive form are ‘arrepentirse’, ‘caerse’ and ‘morirse.’ In each case a clitic, “se” has been added to the verb infinitive. Think of a clitic as an unstressed word, typically a function word, that is incapable of standing on its own and attaches in pronunciation to a stressed word, with which it forms a single accentual unit.
See DRAE @ Pronominal Verbo style = "font-size:80%;color:black">
Second, as to “reflexive verbs” it is in that interesting last sentence of the first definition that we come to deal with what language learning courses refer to as “reflexive verbs.” Again, in DRAE, we find this definition of a reflexive verb. A verb constructed with an unstressed reflexive pronoun like “You comb yourself”.
See DRAE @ ReflexivoVerbo style = "font-size:80%;color:black">
There you have it! In short and strictly speaking, reflexive verbs can be seen as a subset of pronominal verbs. This sets the stage to narrow our discussion of reflexive verbs only to that subset without having to deal with all the other complexity of the entire family of pronominal verbs.
A verb is said to be reflexive when the person performing the action and the person upon whom the action is performed is the same person.
Here are some examples:
If a barber shaves a customer, the verb used is "afeitar" (to shave). However, if I shave myself, the verb to use is "afeitarse" (to shave oneself).
If a mother washes her child, the verb to use is "lavar" (to wash) or perhaps "bañar" to bathe. However, if she cleans herself the verb to use would be "lavarse" (to wash oneself), or "bañarse" (to bathe oneself).
The verbs "afeitarse", "lavarse" and "bañarse" are reflexive verbs. This is because the person performing the action is also the recipient (some say the object or subject) of the action.
For a more complete understanding of reflexive verbs, SpanishDict has the following instructional material:
Reference Page ----> Reflexive Verbs (less than 5 minutes) and
Lesson Video ----> Reflexive Verbs & Morning Routine (Perhaps twenty minutes).
These learning materials will go a long way to helping you understand Reflexive verbs.
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If you would like to see what other online Spanish Language learning web sites have to say about reflexive verbs, here are some other references for you. Sometimes referring to the same thing by another writer can help to make a topic come into focus.
Here is what "StudySpanish.com" has to say ----> Reflexive Verbs Be sure to see both Part I and Part II
Here is what "Spanish.About.com" has to say ----> Introduction to Reflexive Verbs.
Muchos saludos/Best regards
Moe
It's a common (but incorrect) way to refer to pronominal verbs (verbs whose meanings are somehow affected by the use of personal pronouns, be they reflexive pronouns or not).
There actually are no reflexive verbs, only reflexive pronouns.
For example, below are examples of two pronominal verbs. Comerse is using the pronoun reflexively while hacerse is using passive se.
Comerse: Me como las manzanas = I ate up the apples. (Reflexive pronoun)
Hacerse: Se hizo anoche = It was done last night. (Passive SE)
Here's the basic definition:
A verb is used reflexively when the subject of the verb is also its object.
You can look online and see many lessons and examples.
Welcome to the forum!
Let me recommend this video that will describe some uses of reflexive verbs.
Oh, I should mention that "reflexive verbs" or "pronominal verbs" will usually have a separate listing under the main verb as the meaning of the verb is usually affected by the addition of the pronoun to the verb.
For example, somewhere in the entry for COMER (to eat), you'll see a listing for COMERSE (to eat up, to be eaten). The pronoun in COMERSE does usually get used reflexively (in which case, it means "to eat up"). However, it can just as easily get used as passive se (in which case, it means "to be eaten").
With comerse, it can be confusing if the pronoun is being used reflexively or passively. For example, "Se comió toda la comida," can mean (reflexively), "He ate up all the food," or "All the food was eaten" (passively).
This confusion only arises when the pronoun is se, however. If the pronoun is me, te, or whatever, it is reflexive (with comer, at least). For example, "Me comí toda la comida" could only be interpreted reflexively (I ate all the food for myself, which is better translated as I ate up all the food).
I'm afraid that you will find "reflexive verbs" to be one of the most challenging aspects of Spanish.
what's a reflexive verb?
A bit of a misnomer actually. Despite this fact, such poorly thought out terminology still remains relatively prevalent, especially in conversations involving second language acquisition. More importantly, the concept is not merely limited to the Spanish language, but also applies to numerous other languages, including English.
Reflexivity, then, is a syntactic property which occurs when both the subject and the direct object (or in some cases, indirect object) of a verb represents the same entity. Because the lexical meaning of the verb often remains unchanged, it is probably a better idea to refer to such usage in terms of "reflexive pronouns" rather than "reflexive verbs." The best way to illustrate this point would probably be to simply compare a series of sentences, paying close attention to the relationship and interaction of the subject and object of the verb.
1. Intransitive Usage
His leg hurt (Ø) very badly.
2. Transitive Usage
He hurt her very badly.
3. Reflexive Usage
He hurt himself very badly.
4. Reciprocal Usage
They hurt one another very badly.
In (1) above, you can see that the verb does not take an object. In (2), however, the action of the verb is directed upon the pronoun "her" which acts as the direct object of the verb. Similarly, in (3) above, the object of the verb is the reflexive pronoun, "himself." After considering this, it should be simple enough to understand why it is more logical to speak of reflexive pronouns rather than reflexive verbs in that it is the inherent characteristic of the pronoun itself and not of the verb which reflects the action of the verb back onto the subject. In fact, reflexive pronouns can only be used in this fashion (i.e. to reflect back upon the subject). This concept is simple enough to understand, especially if we consider the following:
?I hurt her.
?I hurt herself X.
?I hurt me X
?I hurt myself.
By comparing these sentences, two things should be readily apparent. First, using a reflexive pronoun which does not coincide with the subject of the sentence results in ungrammaticality. Second, only a reflexive pronoun can be used when the subject and object of a sentence coincide with one another and anything else generally results in ungrammaticality.
This brings me to one last point in that there is also the idea of reciprocal usage (4) which because of morphological similarities can be confused in Spanish by those unfamiliar with the concept. Reciprocal usage occurs only in sentences where the subject is plural. It is very similar to reflexivity in that the object directs the action of the verb back onto the subject but in a "reciprocal fashion." You can note the difference by comparing the following pair of sentences.
?They hurt themselves (reflexive)
?They hurt one another/each other (reciprocal)
Statements such as these are also distinct in that they generally require that the verb be accompanied by a pronoun in order for an accurate meaning to be conveyed (as opposed to say transitive or intransitive usage). For this reason, many texts (including the RAE) refer to verb usage that requires a pronoun as "pronominal usage." The main thing that should be noted, however, is that it is the pronoun and not the verb which should be referred to as reflexive.
Now I know that your original question pertained to reflexive verbs pronouns as they related to Spanish, and I have done little in the way of providing examples in Spanish. Therefore, I will end by providing you with a series of Spanish sentences to compare with one another:
?Me di por perdido (reflexive) ? I gave up hope/I lost all hope for myself (lit: I gave myself up for lost).
?Lo di por perdido (transitive) ? I gave up hoping for him/I lost all hope for him (lit: I gave him up for lost).
?Antonio y yo nos hemos hablado algunas veces (reciprocal) ? Antonio and I have spoken to one another on occasion.
?He hablado con Antonio algunas veces (intransitive) ? I have spoken with Antonio on occasion.
?Antonio me ha hablado algunas veces (intransitive) ? Antonio has spoken to me on occasion.
?Bañó a su hijo en agua caliente (transitive) ? She bathed her son in warm water.
?Se bañó en agua caliente (reflexive) ? She bathed herself in warm water.
?Se bañaron el uno al otro en agua caliente (reciprocal) ? They bathed one another in warm water.
Hopefully, this does something in the way of clarifying the concept for you.
