Mastering reflexive verbs in Spanish is an important step when learning the language, as these types of verbs are very common in everyday language. The most basic answer to the question of “What is a reflexive verb in Spanish?” is that these are verbs in which the person or thing doing the action is also receiving the action, almost like a reflection.
While reflexive verbs can seem tricky at first, you’ll soon get the hang of them if you’re taking Spanish lessons, whether that’s online Spanish courses or in-person Spanish classes Madrid or elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world. And, in this post, we’ll cover the basics, from the structure of reflexive verbs in Spanish to understanding the context to some reflexive verbs in Spanish examples. So, let’s take a look!
Let’s start off by establishing exactly what is a reflexive verb in Spanish. The definition of Spanish reflexive verbs is: “Verbs that indicate that the subject of the sentence is also the recipient of the action.”
The good news when studying these verbs is that they’re easily recognisable because they’re accompanied by their reflexive pronouns (me, te, se, nos, os), and these must, by definition, match the subject of the sentence.
To help with mastering reflexive verbs in Spanish, let’s take a look at the following table which outlines the different reflexive pronouns in Spanish:
| English | Spanish | Spanish pronunciation |
| me | me | meh |
| you (informal singular) | te | teh |
| him, it (masculine singular) | se | seh |
| her, it (feminine singular) | se | seh |
| us | nos | nohs |
| you all (informal plural) | os | ohs |
| them (masculine plural) | se | seh |
| them (feminine plural) | se | seh |
To correctly use reflexive verbs, we need to consider verb conjugation, and the reflexive pronoun must match the subject as well. The general structure follows the pattern of: subject + reflexive pronoun + conjugated verb.
To better understand, let’s go through examples for the six different conjugations for the reflexive verb “lavarse”, which means “to wash oneself”:
The above is the general and most common structure for how to use reflexive verbs in Spanish. But, there are other ways these reflexive verbs can be used too.
When using reflexive verbs in the infinitive form, the pronoun must still agree with the subject but it can be added at the end of the infinitive. Sticking with the “lavarse” example, for a first person example that would look as so:
If using Spanish reflexive verbs with the gerund (the -ing form of a verb), they can either be attached to the end of the gerund or placed before the conjugated verb, as can be seen in these two examples:
Reflexive verbs can also be used in imperatives. Generally, the reflexive pronoun is attached to the end of affirmative commands while it is placed before negative commands. Here’s an example of each:
Now that we’ve gone over the basics, let’s take a look at a few more reflexive verbs in Spanish examples, with a mix of tenses and situations.
You’ll learn all the nuances of Spanish reflexive verbs in your classes, but there are a few extra tips worth keeping in mind already. One interesting point is that some verbs are only sometimes reflexive, and some can even change meaning when used reflexively. For example, “lavar” means “to wash” something, while “lavarse” means “to wash oneself”, and there is a slight difference there.
There are also cases where a reflexive verb isn’t needed, but the reflexive pronoun is added just for emphasis. For example, you might say “He ate the entire cake himself” with “Se ha comido todo el pastel él solo”, to add that extra touch of emphasis.
For now, you’ve got all the info you need about the basics of using reflexive verbs in Spanish. So, have fun as you study. Or, using the Spanish reflexive, ¡diviértete estudiando!
