verbos reflexivos / reflexive verbs
Hola.
I am learning reflexive verbs now and am beginning to be less confused. Would like to check if the following are correct. Please highlight which ones are wrong, why are they wrong, and what they should be.
- Yo me despierto = I wake up
- te despierto = I wake you up
- se despierto = I wake him/her up
- nos despierto = I wake us up
- os despierto = I wake you (plural) up
- se despierto = I wake them up
- me despiertas = You wake me up
- te despiertas = You wake yourself up
- se despiertas = You wake him/her up
- nos despiertas = You wake us up
- os despiertas = You wake you (plural) up
- se despiertas = You wake them up
Also, what, if necessary, should I put infront of 'te despierto' and etc.? Is it "Yo te despierto" or "Tu te despierto" or something else or simply nothing?
Thank you so much!
4 Answers
•Yo Me despierto = I wake up 
(No need for 'Yo')
•te despierto = I wake you up
•se despierto = I wake him/her up 
Lo/la despierto
•nos despierto = I wake us up (?)
•os despierto = I wake you (plural) up
•se despierto = I wake them up Los/las despierto
•me despiertas = You wake me up
•te despiertas = You wake yourself up
•se despiertas = You wake him/her up Lo/la despiertas
•nos despiertas = You wake us up
•os despiertas = You wake you (plural) up?? You (all) wake yourselves up? os despertáis
•se despiertas = You wake them up Los/ las despiertas
I see your confusion..
A reflexive verb by definition is a verb that is carried out by a subject who is also the object, i.e. the subject and the object are the same person. BUT when the object is a different person the verb acts like any normal transitive verb.
Me despierto: I wake myself up ---> reflexive. (Technically, 'me' is the direct object here)
La despierto: I wake her up with a kiss ----> normal transitive verb and 'her' is the direct object.
Me lavo el pelo: I wash my hair (literally I wash me the hair). 'El pelo' is the direct object and 'me' is the indirect object.
Le lavo el pelo: I wash his hair ( I wash him the hair), same as above but here 'le' is the indirect object.
I wash it (the apple = manzana) la lavo. 'La' here is the direct object.
So most of Spanish verbs can be reflexive, but when they are not, they act like transitively (maybe intransitively as well, depending on the individual verb).
I'm also a beginner so let's see what the experts will say
A reflexive verb by definition is a verb that is carried out by a subject who is also the object, i.e. the subject and the object are the same person.
No verb is reflexive by definition. However many transitive verbs can be used in in reflexive constructions.
Me despierto: I wake myself up
You wake yourself up? do you, perhaps mean that you woke up at six and at seven you realized it was getting late and decided to "wake yourself up"? Perhaps you have multiple personality disorder and one of your personalities is an early riser.
I want to clarify something.
hoy me despertó a las ocho = He woke me up at 8 today
Am I correct to say that despertó is in 3rd person past because the person doing the action of 'waking up' is 'him' and the action is done in the past (8 today is over)? While me is in 1st person because the person being woken up is 'myself'?
Can I also say that me despierta = he wakes me up?
Does this format always work in present and past tenses or are there some exceptions?
Thank you!
Hi and welcome to the forum. Take a look at the conjugation of "despertarse." Yes, you need the pronoun in front of the verb.
me despierto a las ocho = I wake up at 8
te despiertas = you wake up
se despierta = he/she/it/usted wakes up
nos despertamos = we wake up
os despertáis = you all wake up
se despiertan = they / ustedes (you all) wake up
hoy me desperté a las ocho = I woke up at 8 today
hoy me despertó a las ocho = He woke me up at 8 today
¿a qué hora te despertaste? = what time did you wake up?
