A Closer Look on the Spanish Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive verbs are those verbs that do not need a specific object of action, because the subject itself is already the object. It is present in most languages, including English and Spanish.
Below are some examples of reflexive verbs and their usage in sentences in English:
- Mark woke up.
- They put their clothes on.
- He was murmuring a question to himself.
- He scratched his nose.
All these sentences can be converted to sentences with similar reflexive verbs in Spanish. In this case, one would be puzzled why the last sentence is reflexive when the subject is “he” and not “his nose,” which in English is considered the predicate. In English, it is not reflexive but in Spanish, there is a corresponding reflexive for the English equivalent.
In fact, the last sentence points out one difference of English and Spanish that a beginner should keep in mind.
In Spanish, possessive pronouns are non-existent when it comes to body parts. In the case of the last sentence, the speaker is talking about “the nose” and not the person’s nose in the possessive sense in English. Thus, in translating this to Spanish, the nose becomes the subject and the object of the verb “to scratch” and utilizes reflexive forms of verbs.
Uses of Reflexive Verbs in Spanish
Reflexive verbs are used in various other ways in Spanish aside from showing a sentence where the subject is the object of its own action. The Spanish also make use of reflexive verbs to show emotional reactions, and to add emphasis to the subject’s action. They are also used to indicate passive voice.
In Spanish, reflexive verbs are also used to imply something beyond the original meaning of the verb. For example, to make abonar (to pay money) into its reflexive form abonarse, the meaning is changed to that of making a subscription, for example to a magazine or service.
Recognizing and Conjugating Reflexive Verbs
In Spanish, infinitive forms of verbs can be turned into their reflexive forms by adding –se to the root verb. For example, enojar (to make angry) becomes enojarse when used to indicate that a person got angry either by his own doing or as a reaction to certain situations.
The conjugations of reflexive verbs into its various forms follow the same rules as conjugating regular verbs. For example, afeitarse, the reflexive form of the verb afeitar (to shave), becomes afeito in single first person, afeitamos in plural third person forms, afeitas in both plural and singular second person forms, afeita in single third person and afeitan in plural third person form.
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