Reflexive Verbs in Spanish: Understanding the Use of Reflexive Pronouns, Schemes and Mind Maps of Spanish

Download Reflexive Verbs in Spanish: Understanding the Use of Reflexive Pronouns and more Schemes and Mind Maps Spanish in PDF only on Docsity! Reflexive Verbs Review ME TE SE NOS (OS) SE “Okay, Señor, all this talk about reflexive verbs, I’m starting to get confused!” Okay, here it is – easy and in a nutshell! Reflexive verbs are actions that one does to oneself In the past, we have dealt with verbs that are simple actions that a person can do. For example: Hablar – to talk – I talk (hablo), you talk (hablas), etc. The new reflexive verbs we are learning now, though, have that little “SE” at the end of them. For example, from chapter 2A: Bañarse, Ducharse, Afeitarse That “se” at the end of the word is called a reflexive pronoun. If we were to try and translate it, we could say that it means “oneself”. So, in other words, “Bañarse” is not just “To Bathe” (or “Take a Bath” like the book says), but it is quite literally “To Bathe Oneself”. “Afeitarse” is not just “To Shave” but rather “To Shave Oneself”. In the list below, I will list the common definitions for the verbs as well as a more literal definition in parenthesis. aburrirse to get bored (to bore oneself) acostarse to go to bed (to lay oneself down) afeitarse to shave (to shave oneself) animarse to cheer up (to animate oneself) arreglarse to get ready (to fix oneself) bañarse to bathe (to bathe oneself) calmarse to calm (oneself) down cansarse to get tired (to tire oneself) cepillarse to brush (oneself)(hair, teeth) cortarse to cut (oneself) (hair-pelo, nails-uñas) despertarse to wake (oneself) up divertirse to have a good time (to enjoy oneself) dormirse to fall asleep (to sleep oneself) ducharse to take a shower (to shower oneself) enojarse to get angry (to anger oneself) lastimarse to hurt oneself lavarse to wash (up) (to wash oneself) levantarse to get up (to get oneself up) maquillarse to put on makeup (to make oneself up) peinarse to comb (hair) (onself) pintarse to put on makeup (to paint oneself) ponerse to put on (clothes) (to put on oneself) sentarse to sit (oneself) down sorprenderse to be surprised (to surprise oneself) vestirse to get dressed (to dress oneself) “Reflexive Pronouns Are Neither Created Nor Destroyed… They Just Change Form” There are two separate tasks when conjugating reflexive verbs. First, take off the reflexive pronoun se, change it to agree with the subject of the verb, and place it directly in front of the verb. Then, as with all verbs, you must conjugate the infinitive according to whether it's an -ar, -er, -ir, stem-changing, or irregular verb. Yo + Bañarse is… Se at the end of bañarse becomes Me (because Yo + Se = Me) Me=Myself Okay, so now we have YO ME Now we need to conjugate bañar in the Yo form… baño so we finish with Yo me baño (I myself I bathe, I bathe myself) (Yo) Me ducho. I shower myself –or- I'm taking a shower. Marco se pone una camisa. Marco puts a shirt on (himself). Te lavas la cara. You're washing your (yourself) face. Me levanto a las seis de la mañana. I get myself up at six in the morning. Quick Review Reflexive Verbs A. Choose the correct translation – you may need your word list at the end of the chapter to help. 1) I wash the car. (Note: is it “reflexive” or doing it to itself?) a) Lavo el auto. b) Me lavo el auto. 2) I take a bath. a) (Yo) Me baño. b) Yo baño. 3) Juan goes to bed at ten in the evening. a) Juan se acuesta a las diez de la noche. b) Juan acuesta a las diez de la noche. 4) Maria puts the baby to bed at seven in the evening. a) María se acuesta al bebé a las siete de la noche. b) María acuesta al bebé a las siete de la noche. 5) I wake up at six in the morning. a) Me despierto a las seis de la mañana. b) Despierto a las seis de la mañana. 6) She wakes her child at nine in the morning. a) Ella se despierta a su niño a las nueve de la mañana. b) Ella despierta a su niño a las nueve de la mañana. Section A answers: 1-A (washing the car is not reflexive) 2-A, 3-A (Juan ‘lays himself down…’), 4-B (María is putting the baby down, not herself, so not reflexive), 5-A (I get myself up – Reflexive), 6-B (waking child, not self, not reflexive) B. Choose the appropriate reflexive pronoun. 7. You take a shower: Tú __________ duchas. 8. Maria washes her hair: María __________lava el pelo. 9. You-all wake up: Ustedes ___________ despiertan. 10. We brush our teeth: Nosotros __________ cepillamos los dientes. 11. She gets dressed: Ella _____________ viste. 12. They sit down: Ellos ____________sientan. 13. I'm worried about you: _________preocupo por ti. Section B answers: 7-Te, 8-Se, 9-Se, 10-Nos, 11-Se, 12-Se, 13-Me (I worry myself – even though we haven’t done this verb, you should recognize that preocupo is in the yo form)