trouble with reflexive verbs
When it comes to reflexive verbs, I'm having a hard time understanding when to use yo "me", tú "te" etc.... versus adding "se" to the end of the verb...What's the difference and when should I use one instead of the other?
Example: I wash my hands.. Should I say "Lavarse las manos", or "me lavo las manos."..Whats the difference between the two and when should I use one versus the other. Thanks!
4 Answers
Here is our lesson on the subject:
http://www.spanishdict.com/guide/reflexive-verbs-and-reflexive-pronouns
An independent clause will have one conjugated verb, conjugated to the subject. It can have participles, gerunds, infinitives or dependent clauses with conjugated verbs as well,
You must pick the pronoun that matches that subject.
Example: I wash my hands.. Should I say "Lavarse las manos", or "me lavo las manos."..Whats the difference between the two and when should I use one versus the other. Thanks!
Lavarse las manos= to wash one's hands. If you think about it, this is not a sentence, there is no conjugated verb.
Me lavo las manos= I wash my hands. This is a proper sentence.
Se is used with you(formal, usted- and plural, ustedes which is formal and informal in Latin America, only formal in Spain, where vosotros is the informal plural, and os would be used).
(Él) se lava las manos. He washes his hands. So instead of me, you use se, but also change lavo to lava.
(Él) quiere lavarse las manos. Or (Él) se quiere lavar las manos. He wants to wash his hands. Here because querer is conjugated, lavar is not. The pronoun can go in either place.To wash=lavar is an infinitive.
Quiero lavarme las manos. Or Me quiero lavar las manos. Because you are referring to you, not only do you change quiere to quiero, the se becomes me.
Hopefully this helps.
All these reflexive pronouns: me, te, se, os are used when you want to invoke that person. Me is "myself", te, is "yourself", se is "herself/himself/formal you singular and formal you plural" (this covers many pronouns), nos is "us" and os is for vosotros.
Lavarse las manos is what we call an infinitive, and we have them in English as well. It's infinitive form in English is "to wash (one's) hands". Just like in English, we only use the infinitive form when the verb is either being assisted (Vamos a bailar) or when it can stand by itself as a noun (Lo que tenemos que hacer es trabajar). Infinitives also work as the road map for conjugating that verb. (Start from the infinitive to conjugate).
So if I said that I wash my hands, it would be "Me lavo las manos" and for you, "Te lavas las manos", "nosotros nos lavamos las manos" We wash our hands. You can conjugate the rest for practice. 
Remember, corresponding conjugate plus the corresponding reflexive pronoun on top.
Now, other applications for the infinitive would be: "Es difícil cepillarme las muellas" It's difficult to brush my molars.
And of course, you can always switch up the order slightly. "Necesito lavarme las manos antes de cocinar." is the same as "Me necesito lavar las manos antes de cocinar."
Here is an article on the reflexive verbs by Moderator Ray76. It is an excellent article. I also put in my two pesos worth in an answer which was well received.
Link to excellent article on reflexives
This is great stuff everyone, thank you!
