Please, someone explain reflexive verbs
I would really, really appreciate it because this is one part of spanish that I don't seem to understand. Well, I understand it for about half the day and then when night-time rolls around I struggle once again.
Gracias por la ayuda, todos.
5 Answers
No offense to the previous answers, but to a beginner that is way too much information.
Non-reflexive:
La madre despierta a su niña. (The mother wakes somebody else up.)
El niño lava a su perro. (The boy washes something else.)
Reflexive:
La niña se despierta. (The girl wakes herself up.)
Los niños se lavan las manos. (The boys wash their own hands.)
Tosh answered right on the mark.
The trick here is that verbs are not "reflexive". The are (or are not) used in a reflexive manner.
To be reflexive in its use, the verb's subject refers to the same thing as the object, and this is as true in English as in Spanish.
Many verbs can be used either reflexively, or non-reflexively.
People talk about reflexive verbs but from what I understand from Lazarus and other grmmarians here the verbs are pronominal verbs with reflexive endings. The reflexive endings can be recognissed by the se at the end of the infinitive eg: despertarSE = to wake up; levantarSE = to get up; lavarSE = to wash onself; acostarSE = to go to bed /to lie down These are just a few examples...There are many more!
The reflexive endings indicate that a person is doing the action to themselves. For example: You wash yourself. If you/a person is doing the action to someone or something else eg; you are giving a book to a friend or you are drying the dog then it is not a reflexive action and no reflexive ending is used/required!
You also have to be careful because the reflexive se at the end of the verb can also sometimes be mistaken, when placed before the verb in a conjugated form, eg se murió = He died, for the passive se which is used to indicate the passive form. The door shut with a slam = La puerta se cerró de un portazo. (This is not reflexive since the door cannot shut itself but when the passive form is used the person causing the action is hidden/not mentioned.In contrast, the active form reveals the who caused the action: the boy slammed the door!)
I hope this helps
You are not alone! I'm just beginning to attempt to crack this mystery of the Spanish language. Actually, that's an exaggeration - really I'm just nibbling around the edges. The link that Ashis provided is a good start, but for me at least, these individual lessons don't shed any light on the big picture.
Here is a thread that sums up the confusion pretty well.
And here is a very good article on the subject.
Part of the confusion stems from the fact that (as I understand it) the verbs themselves are not reflexive.... they are just verbs. It's their use in a particular sentence that makes them "reflexive." Specifically, it's the use of a reflexive pronoun that makes a verb "reflexive." That leads to a discussion on "pronominal verbs" which is the larger category that includes the so-called reflexive verbs. This is a big topic, but for me, it helps just to understand and to begin to distinguish the different uses of verbs and pronouns in Spanish that have little or no parallel in English. I have figured out that this will take a while to decipher and I will have to be patient and not beat myself up over my failure to grasp this in a few short lessons! Since it is such a big topic, it might help if you look up or make up sentences that you think are reflexive/pronomial and post specific questions about the things you don't understand.
¡Buena suerte Yesyes!
