I need some help figuring out the usage of "pelearse".

Question

When I had used reflexive verbs, it always had made sense to me because I could always figure out who the action was being performed on by looking at the reflexive pronoun. That seems to have changed with being introduced to "pelearse" and its usage. For example:

"Te peleabas todos los días cuando eras joven."

This seems to be saying that you fought yourself, that is, attempted to beat yourself up. However, I have been told that this means, "You (singular familiar) fought all the time...".

It took a seemingly even weirder turn when I saw the following phrase:

"Cuando erais niños, siempre os peleaban."

I was told that this means, "...you (plural familiar) fought all the time."

It looks like it should mean "...they fought you (plural familiar)...".

Can somebody help me get this straight in my mind?

Answer 1

"Cuando erais niños, siempre os peleabais." ("peleaban" is, simply, wrong)

When you were children you always fought with each other. This is the obvious interpretation of the Spanish. It could be made more explicit by adding "el uno con el otro" but (in this case) there is little room for confusion. By the way, this construction is better called "reciprocal" than "reflexive".

With other verbs there is more room for confusion. e.g. "Os afeitabais." could mean either "You shaved yourselves." (reflexive [each shaved himself]) or "You shaved one another." (reciprocal). To avoid possible confusion, one can always add "el uno al otro" to the Spanish but usually the context will make it clear which is meant.

"Se besaron." - "They kissed each other." "Se agarraron de las manos." - "They held hands." , "Se odian." - "They hate each other.", etc.

Things have become much clearer for me upon reading your post. Thank you so much for the information, samdie. - keithgoblue, May 2, 2011

Answer 2

I think the phrase should be:

"Cuando (vosotros) erais niños, siempre os peleabais".

Pelear can be either transitive or pronominal.

Peleabas todos los días.

Or:

Te peleabas todos los días.

Pronominal is not the same as reflexive.

Te peinabas todos los días. (reflexive)

Te peleabas todos los días (pronominal)

Pelear is not use as a transitive verb; it is either pronominal or not pronominal. - lazarus1907, May 2, 2011

Answer 3

"Cuando vosotroserais niños, siempre os peleabais"