The magic of reflexive.

Question

This is an informative post primarily meant for beginners and Intermediates.

I am sure the mere mention of reflexives brings an awe or a grimace on the faces of some of us. BUT if you all try to internalize the logic behind the reflexives you may start considering it as your best buddy.

Well the reason why most of start shivering while dealing with reflexives is a lack of understanding on the subject.

Most of us have been taught that the reflexive only means that the action is happening or coming back to the subject of the clause,, well no, I disagree... Reflexives is a multi-dimensional concept and has more than one aspect to it All u have to keep in mind is that one thing that is common in all the various dimensions/aspects/uses of reflexives is the idea of personal involvement or personal reference of the subject in one way or the other. The action of the verb may or may not be coming back on the subject of the clause. I will be briefly touching upon one such aspect today SO KEEP READING :

Change of Meaning with reflexives Ever wondered why some verbs change the entire meaning when used reflexively ,,, well that is what we will excogitate here ,,, heed the examples below : 1. The verb OCUPAR means to occupy, however when it goes reflexive the meaning of ocuparse is to attend to ... Now here the action of being attended to is not happening on the subject but what is happening is that we are saying in a way that I am making myself occupied by attending to some one or something which gives the meaning ,, to attend. 2.Enterar : this one means to inform .. but when it goes reflexive the meaning changes to "to find out" ..so what is happening here ,, here the mechanism of reflexive is making the core meaning rotate back on your self meaning to inform your self ,,, and how will you inform your self ,,,, obviously by finding something out which gives the verb its new meaning in the reflexive format.

So when it comes to reflexives ,, it may not always be as simple as dormirme (I am making myself sleep) or acostarme (I am puting myself to bed) etc. In many verbs the logic may be hidden and u might have to close your eyes to decipher the logical derivation of the reflexive meaning .... God Bless and Happy Learning.

Answer 1

Nice post Jimmy, if I might make a suggestion though, perhaps it would be better to refer to these verbs as 'pronominal verbs' - with 'reflexive' just being one of the kinds of action that is possible (reciprocal action being another).

This is in fact the correct grammatical name for them and when it's used it avoids the confusion that comes from calling them all reflexive. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the suggestion ma'am, That infact is the only reason why I didn't refer to them as pronominal .. Because I just wanted to discuss the reflexive side of the coin,, I will discuss about the reciprocal aspect in a different post .. - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

but thanks for the nice advice :) - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

readers please be advised about whatever has been added kindly by Kiwi-Girl .. And as she just advised, these verbs can also indicate reciprocal relations .. Example : se estan abrazando (they are hugging EACH OTHER) - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

So please don't get confused any one :) - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

we will talk more about the reciprocal aspect in detail some other time .. :) - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

Answer 2

there is another use of the reflexive that I have noticed. English speakers use words of position after verbs very commonly, such as "foul up", or "run over", etc. etc. It is very common but mostly unconciouse. A Mexican friend said to me "i'll never understand why I have to chop a tree down in order to chop it up!". Spanish often uses the reflexive in place of this. Example: "presentarse" means something like "show up"

thanks for comenting my friend .. the word presentarse follows the regular reflexive logic ,, to present your self to some one .. which can mean to show up or turn up .. - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

please dont get confused with the english prepositions used at the end of the sentence/clause (these are actually called post positions technically speaking which has no correlation with the reflexive logic - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

the words you are reffering to are post-positions and that concept doesn't exist in Spanish - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

haha well said Jose I've never really thought of that before. Languages are funny. - mark1118, Mar 24, 2014

Answer 3

Thanks Jimmy this is really helpful. I think "se" is by far the hardest part of Spanish for me so I'm always happy to find a new article or post looking at it from a slightly different perspective.

@mark1118 : My friend "Se" as a reflexive pronoun is the easiest of all the different uses of Se in Spanish.. Se is used in a lot of different things .. like in the passive constructions, as an indirect object used with lo and los and in the impersonal se - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

you might want to look into the other uses as well to clear out your understanding around SE - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

Answer 4

Jimmy, I love how you are posting different topics about Spanish that some people (including me) find to be difficult. At the moment, I don't have the time to read this in-depth, but I most certainly will when I get the chance. Thank you for taking the time to do this. Your effort does not go to waste.

@actorgirl : you are most welcome dear - 00b055e0, Mar 24, 2014

Answer 5

I would like to bring across two more verbs here for a better understanding :

1. Meter / Meterse : Where as meter simply means to put .. For example .. Por favor meta la ropa en la lavadora (please put the clothes in the washing machine) It would mean something quite different from its core meaning when used reflexively.. When meter goes reflexive it means to INTERFERE .. Try to figure out the reflexive logic .. It means ,, to put yourself (in others's affairs) thus meaning to interfere.

2. Obligar/Obligarse : Obligar simply means to obligate some one or compel someone to do some thing .. but when it goes reflexive it means "to undertake something or some task" .. logic : it means to obligate yourself (to perform some task or to do some thing) thus meaning to undertake

Hope it helps

If any of my friends here might want to share some more verbs or more information on this thread please do so in the common interest of all the members

Well now, I'm really confused... but notice I'm still reading. lol Thank you for this, Jimmy. :) - Findy, Mar 24, 2014