Los verbos reflexivos
• conocerse bien / mal
• contarse (o-->ue) chismes
• contarse secretos
• Animarse
• dedicarse a
• desanimarse
• Entusiasmarse
• ponerse nervioso(a)
• sentirse (e-->ie, i) frustrado(a)
• Apoyarse
• Ayudarse
• Caer(le) bien/mal
• llevarse bien / mal
• Odiarse
• pelearse
• Perdonarse
• Quejarse
• Saludarse
• telefonearse
In Spanish, we use reflexive verbs when we want
to say someone does something to, at, or for
oneself. The reflexive verbs in Spanish require a
reflexive pronoun that will refer to the person
doing the action.
The idea of reflexives in English:
I do to, at, for
me/myself
We do
to, at, for
ourselves
You do to, at, for
you /
x
yourself
He she you (f) does to, They do/all of you do
at, for
himself/herself/yourself (f)
to, at, for themselves/all of
yourselves
The reflexive pronouns:
me
nos
te
x
se
se
Note: LE and LES are not reflexive! Those are used
when you are doing /giving something to someone
ELSE
• Andrés se lastimó. = Andrés hurt himself.
• Me desperté a las siete y media. = I woke up at
seven thirty.
• *With reflexive verbs, there are two things that
always match: What is the rule?
• *The ________________ and the verb
_____________ always match.
• Put the reflexive pronoun BEFORE the
conjugated verb:
¿Cuándo se levantó Marcos? = When did
Marcos get up?
• Put the reflexive pronoun AFTER the infinitive
(attached).
No debes preocuparte. = You shouldn’t worry.
• IF you have 2 verbs, you have 2 ways to say a
sentence using a reflexive pronoun!
• Before the conjugated verb OR
• Attached to the infinitive
• -If you want to sound more like a native
speaker, you can put the reflexive pronoun
before the conjugated verb if there is an
infinitive later in the sentence:
• Por ejemplo:
• No te debes preocupar. =
You shouldn’t worry (yourself).
• ¿Cuándo se va a bañar? =
When is she going to bathe (herself)?
1. Tú / bañarse a las ocho
_________________________________
2. Pedro y Manuel / compartirse mucho
______________________________
3.Lola y yo / ir a saludarse
__________________________
4. Sara dedicated herself to her studies
_____________________________
5. I am excited at the start of class
________________________________
6. You want to apologize to your best friend
_______________________________________
Nonreflexively:
Reflexive: Me desperté a las diez hoy. = I woke
up at ten today.
Nonreflexive: Le desperté a mi hermanito a las
diez hoy. = I woke up my little brother at ten
today.
1. She gets dressed every
__________________________________________
2. Benjamín washed his face.
_____________________________________
3. Isabel dried her hair. (secarse)
__________________________________
4. Paco got really bored.
________________________________________
5. Andrea has sat on the chair.
___________________________________
6. Máximo bathed the cat yesterday.
____________________________
7. Liliana has complained a lot.
________________________________
12. The students had opposed the idea.
___________________________________
13. We had washed our hair at our
grandparents’ house.
_______________________________________
_______________________________
Reflexives for “each other / one another”
• In Spanish, we can also use reflexive verbs to
express the idea of “each other” or “one
another.”
• *English fact:
• “each other” can only refer to two people
=You and I help each other.
•
“one another” refers to three or more =
The students in the class share with one
another.
• Kike y yo nos conocemos muy bien. =
Kike and I know each other very well.
• Mis hermanitos se pelean mucho. =
My little brothers fight with each other a lot.
• Los amigos deben ayudarse. =
Friends should help one another.
• *With reflexive verbs used reciprocally, you
will always have a plural ending, because you
are referring to more than one person. (each
other/ one another).
Examples: Saludarse
• Mauricio y Mariana se saludaron. =
Mauricio and Mariana said hello.
(The “to each other” is implied but not stated)
Mauricio y Mariana se saludaron el uno a la otra
(Mauricio and Mariana said hello to each other.
Directly, “el uno a la otra” means “he to her,” or
“the one to the other”
1. Catalina y Margarita /perdonarse
______________________________________
2. Roberto / quejarse
______________________________
3. Raquel y Ana / llevarse bien
_____________________________
4. Liliana y Benjamín / pelearse mucho
________________________________
5. The friends forgave each other at the end of the
movie.
__________________________________________
____________________________
6. Manuel and Pedro secretly hate each other (en
secreto).
__________________________________________
____________________________
7. Melía and Carmía greet each other.
__________________________________________
______________________________
8. A happy family supports (one another).
__________________________________________
_____________________
9. Liliana and Pedro phone each other often /
frequently.
__________________________________________
_______________________
10. Lola and Sarita tell one another gossip every day.
__________________________________________
____________
11. Karlita and Selena get along well.
_______________________________________
________________
12. Sofía and Eva help each other.
_______________________________________
__________________
1. Britney Spears has to fix her hair (peinarse).
_______________________________________
________________________
2. Lil Wayne regrets having a gun. (arrepentirse,
e  ie)
_______________________________________
________________________
3. I brush my teeth every day.
_______________________________________
_________________________
4. You wash your hands with soap before eating.
__________________________________________
________________________
5. We wake up at the same time! Have you
stretched yet?
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
___
6. Ismael washes the dog.
__________________________________________
__________________
7. The student got bored from being at school. He
left. (irse)
__________________________________________
________________
8.I wake up the baby in order to play with her.
__________________________________________
_______________________
9.The students and I wanted to relax today.
__________________________________________
____ OR
__________________________________________
____________
A personal:
• We visit our grandparents.
Visitamos
_______________________________
• I really love my friends.
Quiero mucho
_______________________________
• Selena gave her parents a gift.
Selena _______________________________
Se impersonal:
• In Spanish, we can use the pronoun “se” in
order to avoid specifying the person who is
doing the action of the verb.
•
• For example:
• Se vende casa = House for sale.
• Se aquila apartamento = Apartment for rent.
• In these expressions, you are indicating that
SOMEONE is selling a house or renting an
apartment, but that you either don’t know
who the person is or you are choosing not to
identify him or her.
• The Spanish reflexives can be used for both of
these cases.
• When you use se, the verb is always in the
third person. It could be either the he/she
form or the they form.
• ~If the noun that follows the verb is singular, the
verb is in the él/ella/usted form:
• Aquí se habla español = Spanish is spoken here.
• A. How would you say, Guitar for sale =
___________________________
• How do you (does one) turn off the vacuum
cleaner? =
________________________________________
_____
• ~If the noun that follows the verb is plural,
you use the ellos/ellas/ustedes form of the
verb.
• Aquí se reparan carros = Cars are repaired
here.
• B. How would you say, Books for sale =
___________________________
• You can use this construction with se in all tenses.
• For example:
•
Se hizo mucho = A lot was done. (a type of
passive voice)
•
Se había hecho mucho = A lot has been done.
• Se hará mucho = A lot will be done.
• How would you say, “Strange things (cosas raras)
were said =
_________________________________
1. The taxes (los impuestos) are paid on Mondays.
_______________________________________
_____________________
2. How does one say “ice cream?” in English?
_______________________________________
__________________________
3. They serve spicy food at this Mexican restaurant.
(Spicy food is served)
__________________________________________
________________
4.Credit cards (tarjetas de crédito) are not accepted
here.
__________________________________________