Burlarse and the negative informal command

Question

Hi, I'm studying negative informal commands, and there is one verb that is confusing me: Burlarse, which means to tease or mock someone. In the SpanishDict dictionary section, they give an example of its use in a negative informal command: ¡No te burles de mí! Don't make fun of me! I am wondering why it is not "No me burles." I got it wrong on the grammar quiz too. The correct answer is "No te burles de los pobres." I put "No se burles de los pobres." Can anyone clarify. I am treating it like a reflexive verb because of the "se" ending, but maybe it's not? Thank you.

Answer 1

¡No te burles de mí!- reflexive (well pronominal) and correct- te matches burles

No me burles- not reflexive- me does not match burles. It is a correct sentence but does not match what you are trying to say, the pronominal shifts the meaning some- look at the transitive definitions in the dictionary- this usage is the transitive with me being the direct object of burlar.

If you say me burles, me does not match burles- it is not pronominal. In a reflexive/pronominal usage the conjugation of the verb must match (one of) the pronouns directly associated- not something separated by de or any preposition.

You are essentially trying to say don’t (you) mock me, which is not what is being asked, and is transitive with a direct object, me, not pronominal with a reflexive object.

To be reflexive you need to say is more like don’t make fun (to yourself) of me. (Don't make a joke of me to yourself)

So the reflexive is te (to yourself) and de mí- preposition and object = of me. With the separation by the pronoun mí does not affect the conjugation or have a pronoun preceding the verb.

The same goes with the se- you are trying to match the pronoun to what follow the preposition- los pobres- you need to match it to the subject, what the verb is conjugated to- tú- hence it is te.

Hopefully I have successfully explained what I mean.

If needed:

Maybe a review of the difference with despertar would be helpful since the difference is clearer in English, and not as subtle:

No te despiertes- reflexive/pronominal- don’t wake youself

No me despiertes- transitive- don’t wake me

No se despiertes- transitive- don’t wake him/her/them.

The change with meaning using burlar to pronominal with separation with de, is more subtle and so harder to explain.

Bosquederoble, - Wow! What a great answer! Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it so throroughly. I did not previously understand about transitive vs. reflexive verbs and now I do! - happyquilter, Jun 2, 2016

I am glad I could be of help. It takes practice with a number of verbs to get a good feel for it, and with all the uses of se, I still get tripped up by it sometimes. Not an easy subject. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 2, 2016

:) - Daniela2041, Jun 2, 2016

Great answer Bosque. Would the "No te despiertes" (I think you have a typo) example also translate as the informal command: "Don't wake up."? - jellonz, Jun 3, 2016

yes, thanks for pointing out the typo., :) - bosquederoble, Jun 3, 2016

I only put the yourself, which is not how we would usually say it, to point out the reflexive nature. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 3, 2016

Yep, I figured that was the case. Again, great answer. The once baffling reflexive / IO / DO pronoun system is finally starting to make some logical sense :) - jellonz, Jun 3, 2016