Reflexivo o no?

Question

I'm having a hard time being able to actually TELL whether something is reflexive or not.. please help me distinguish the difference

1) Yo me llamo Soniya y tengo muchos hijos how is this reflexive?

2) Yo llamo a mi hijo Samuel en la universidad todos los sabados. how is this not reflexive?

3) Paula, mi hija mayor, se viste temprano todos los dias para ir a trabajar. how is this reflexive?

4) Muchas veces viste a su hermanito tambien. how is this not?

Answer 1

Someone can be more specific on the grammar, but reflexive forms have to do with action going back to the subject.

• "Me llamo..." I call me, or myself. Reflexive.

  1. "Llamo (the yo is not necessary) a mi hijo..." You are calling someone else, so not reflexive.

  2. "Paula se viste..." She dresses herself, so reflexive.

  3. "Viste a su hermanito..." She dresses her little brother, so not reflexive.

Just keep thinking, does the subject have the action going back to the subject. Kind of confusing, but your examples are fairly simple. Later, you'll get to reflexive forms that really don't make as much sense if you look at them from an English speaking angle. For now, though, thinking of them this way will probably work for you.

thank you! - bizzaire, Sep 20, 2012

I'm glad this helped. My numbering got messed up somehow. It's formatting posts that keeps me confused. - rheit, Sep 20, 2012

Answer 2

Edit .... this post got bigger than Ben Hur so I'll just post the link for anyone that's interested in the grammar behind 'demystifying pronominal verbs and reflexive actions.

Answer 3

Great explanations above.

Reflexive in Spanish, you´ll find, is often used in places where we would use the words ´self´, myself, ourselves etc, or each other, or one another.

Also, as mentioned above, for things done to yourself (washing or brushing hair, brushing teeth, dressing oneself, undressing, bathing) All of that, vs to someone else, or with some other recipient.

Other places are less obvious, like to sit down or get up or fall asleep or wake up, though they do all involve the self. Or to stay (quedarse) which is a bit like calling ´staying´ the same thing as ´locating yourself´somewhere.

Even less obvious, are ones you´ll run into later that could be either reflexive or not (reír y sonreír)

You´ll get used to it pretty quickly as you aborb more examples.

The lessons here aren´t half bad.

http://www.spanishdict.com/learn/show/22

http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/85

Answer 4

Number 2 is not reflexive because you are calling your son, you aren't calling yourself.

Me llamo= I call myself

Llamo a mi hijo= I call my son