Los benditos reflexivos / Those darn reflexives.

Question

Mis amigos que aprenden español siempre se confunden con los reflexivos. Me dicen que les cuesta entender la diferencia entre frases como:

1. Se miró al espejo vs. Miró el espejo 2. Se lava la cara vs. Lava la ropa

¿Puedes aportar ejemplos similares para que nuestros compañeros foristas practiquen el uso correcto de los reflexivos?

Friends who are learning Spanish often complain on how confusing the reflexive can be in Spanish. They say it's hard for them to understand the difference between:

1. Se miró al espejo vs. Miró el espejo 2. Se lava la cara vs. Lava la ropa

Can you share your own examples with the forum? I'm sure we could all use more practice.

nice post :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 19, 2012

Agreed - you have a great post going! - DR1960, Sep 20, 2012

Answer 1

Trepar vs Treparse

This one is just a guess really and I'd love to have it either confirmed or blown out of the water please jeje

From what I can gather there isn't a lot of difference but it seems like trepar means to climb and adding the reflexive pronoun seems to add 'up' to the phrase.

eg. Trepé a la montaña. I climbed the mountain.

Me trepé a l a montaña. I climbed up the mountain.

Now, I have no grammatical reference to back this up but just thought I'd put it out there as a personal observation jeje

And if this is along the right lines at least, is this the same difference between subir and subirse?

You are so industrious. Thanks! I'd say: Trepar la montaña... Me trepé al arbol. One is to climb a mountain. The other is to climb up the tree. Good job! - francobollo, Sep 20, 2012

Thanks Franco :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 20, 2012

Answer 2

This isn't exactly a reflexive use but needing to use se to essentially make a transitive verb intransitive can be a little tricky when you first come across the need to do so.

For instance if you say Hundió el barco. The boat sank. To Spanish ears the sentence isn't finished, to sink is transitive in Spanish so it needs an object where it can be intransitive in English. So the Spanish listeners will still be waiting to hear what the boat sank, another boat perhaps?

But you can get around this by using se - Se hundió el barco. The boat sank (referring to it sinking rather than it sinking something else.)

Tricky to explain but handy when you get the hang of it.

I don't know how many verbs are like this but romper is another.

I like this! I've never realized the transitive/intransitive implication. Nice summary. - Jubilado, Sep 20, 2012

Thanks J :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 20, 2012

Interesting. Hadn´t thought of that, but it´s a cool point. When I learned German, there were quite a few verbs that could be trans or intrans, but some that required an object, could just us ´sich´ about like Spanish uses ´se´. - rogspax, Sep 20, 2012

The parallels really help me, so thanks! - rogspax, Sep 20, 2012

Hundió el barco means that someone else sank the boat (as a fleet during war). Se hundió el barco does mean The boak sank (by itself or otherwise). Great example! - francobollo, Sep 20, 2012

Thanks for the comments peeps :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 20, 2012

Answer 3

I just used the reflexive (I think) in today's English Word of the Day about the sinking of the Titanic.

No estoy seguro de si el operador de radio estuviera enviando un SOS cuando Titanic se hundió.

I'm not sure if the radio operator was sending an SOS when the Titanic sank.

In other words reflexives are important for daily use! Good post, Franco! - bandit51jd, Sep 20, 2012

Good example, Bandit! - francobollo, Sep 20, 2012

Answer 4

Ir vs Irse because "to leave and to go" mean virtually the same in English

Voy a la tienda.

Me voy de aquí.

Good, Brady! - francobollo, Sep 20, 2012

Answer 5

Me cepillo los dientes en la mañana.

Cepillo el pello de mi hija en la mañana.

I brush my (own) teeth in the morning.

I brush my daughter's hair in the morning.

Como siempre, muy bien! - francobollo, Sep 20, 2012

Answer 6

It´s interesting, because sometimes the reflexive is very similar, and other times the reflexive form can have a fairly different, even if vaguely related meaning.

La estación de autobús queda cerca de aquí.

The bus station is located close to here.

BUT - PERO

Voy a quedarme aquí.

I am going to stay here.

Google Spanish and Reflexive and all kinds of cool articles show up, each adding their own perspective

Yes, quedar and quedarse are two different animals. Good job! - francobollo, Sep 20, 2012