How do you determine which is which?

Question

I cannot seem to get this straight. Jose luis (cepilla / se cepilla) los zapatos de su padre. Which is correct and why?

I am trying to help my grandson with his spanish and I just do not understand the difference. There is a whole page of these questions and I hate to tell him wrong.

Hello, welcome to the forum! Post which one you think is correct. If need be we can help with corrections. Thanks. - rac1, Dec 22, 2012

Answer 1

Jose Luis cepilla los zapatos de su padre.

Jose Luis brushes his fathers shoes. Which, by the way, doesn't make sense to me - I have never brushed shoes. However, if Jose was to brush his hair:

Jose Luis se cepilla el pelo. He is brushing his own hair.

Mis hermanos se despiertan muy temprano.

My brothers wake themselves up very early.

However:

La madre despierta a su hijo.

The mother wakes up her son.

Tosh - there is such a thing as a shoe brush. It takes the place of a polishing cloth. i have one myself. - Noetol, Dec 22, 2012

I guess I have never owned a pair of expensive enough shoes to have to brush them! LOL :)) - Tosh, Dec 22, 2012

Part of polishing a pair of shoes is using a brush. Then you put on the shoe polish, etc. You can cepillar un par de zapatos just to dust them off since they do not require polishing. - francobollo, Dec 22, 2012

I guess I should have known that... :)) - Tosh, Dec 22, 2012

Answer 2

My brothers wake themselves up very early. You Spanish is correct.

Answer 3

Cepillarse means to brush one self. Cepillar means to brush someone or something else.

So in your sentence cepilla fits.

Answer 4

Jose Luis cepilla los zapatos de su padre.

Otra mas por favor.

Mis hermanos se despiertan muy temprano.\

Yo no se. Gracias. Gaylan