Unidad 4: En mi casa
12. Expresemos actividades relacionadas al cuidado personal y la rutina diaria: Los pronombres reflexivos
In the following paragraph let’s review the grammar structures that are related to the 2 verb rule, verbs that require a preposition between the 2 verbs and also the present progressive form.
Yo quiero caminar en el parque, pero mi hermano prefiere caminar en el gimnasio. A él no le gusta el parque porque hace calor, pero yo quiero caminar en el lago (lake). No quiero caminar en el gimnasio porque soy entrenador (coach). ¡Quiero salir del gimnasio! Tengo que estar en el gimnasio todos los días de la semana y cuando quiero hacer ejercicio con mi hermano los fines de semana, ¡él quiere ir al gimnasio! Debo de buscar otro trabajo. Necesito trabajar fuera (out) del gimnasio. Espero tener un nuevo trabajo muy pronto (very soon) ¡Voy a estar muy feliz en mi nuevo trabajo! En este momento (in this momento), estoy escribiendo mi renuncia (resignation) para no trabajar más en el gimnasio.
All the conjugated verbs in this paragraph are actions that a subject (yo, mi hermano or él) is doing. The subjects are performing an action. There are actions related to personal care that often take another grammar element. Let’s examine the following examples where the subjects are the recipient of the action:
She bathes herself.
The subject is performing the action for herself à She bathes herself.
Me ducho en la mañana.
I shower (myself) in the morning.
Te peinas el pelo.
You brush your hair (yourself).
Se habla.
He/she is talking to (himself).
Me veo en el espejo.
I see (myself) in the mirror.
When the subject is performing the action toward or for him or herself, the action is called reflexive. In Spanish, many actions related to personal care or daily routines are reflexive. To indicate a reflexive action you need to use the reflexive pronouns. Compare the sentences below:
Ella baña al perro.
She bathes the dog. The dog is the object of bathe.
Ella se baña
She bathes herself. She (herself) is the object of bathe.
In both examples the verbs in Spanish follow the same conjugation. To make the action reflexive we need to use the reflexive pronouns. Pay attention that in Spanish the reflexive pronouns go before the conjugated verb for an action that one does to oneself.
When the object of the verb is the same person as the subject, you will need to use a reflexive pronoun that agrees with the subject of the verb in number (singular, plural) and in person (1st, 2nd, 3rd).
- Me baño. I bathe myself.
- Te bañas. You bathe yourself.
- Se baña. He/She/formal You bathe(s) himself/ herself/ yourself.
- Nos bañamos. We bathe ourselves.
- Os bañais. You wash yourselves.
- Se bañan. They wash themselves./You wash yourselves.
In the following chart, you will find the personal pronouns, the indirect object pronouns, the direct object pronouns and the reflexive pronouns for each one of the grammatical persons.
| Persona | Pronombres personales | Pronombres de objeto indirecto | Pronombres de objeto directo | Pronombres reflexivos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1era del singular | yo | me | me | me |
| 2da del singular | tú | te | te | te |
| 3era del singular | él, ella, usted | le (se)* | lo / la | se |
| 1era del plural | nosotros/as | nos | nos | nos |
| 2da del plural | vosotros/as | os | os | os |
| 3era del plural | ellos,ellas,ustedes | les (se)* | los / las | se |
*Don’t forget to avoid an insult lelo, lela, lelos or lelas; we use “se” instead of the “le” or “les”.
Reflexive pronouns have almost the same forms as indirect and direct object pronouns except “se” is used for the third person. The reflexive pronoun will always be the same person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular, plural) as the subject of the sentence.
You already know how to use the reflexive pronouns, only you did not know their name! Remember when you started studying Spanish and you learned one of the ways to introduce yourself?: “me llamo”, “te llamas”, “se llama”, “nos llamamos”, “os llamáis”, “se llaman.”
You can add reflexive pronouns to almost any verbs in order to make them reflexive. As we studied before in Spanish many actions related to personal care or daily routines are reflexive. To help to identify the most common Spanish verbs that require a reflexive pronoun, you will see attached to the infinitive the pronoun “se”.
Notice that the reflexive pronoun corresponds to the same person as the verb ending (Agreement):
- Lavarse (to wash one’s self): Yo me lavo las manos (hands.)
- Dormirse (oàue) (to fall asleep): Nos dormimos a las 9:00 de la noche.
- Despertarse (eàie) (to wake up): Ellos se despiertan tarde (late) todos los días.
- Despedirse (eài) (to bid farewell to): Tú te despides de mamá con un beso (kiss.)
- Servirse (eài) (to serve one’s self): Vosotros os servís la sopa (soup.)
- Acostarse (oàue) (to put one’s self to bed): Ustedes se acuestan a las 10:00 de la noche.
- Romperse (to break a part of one’s body): Juan se rompió la mano (Juan broke his hand.)
As you see, in the examples above the reflexive pronouns are placed immediately before the conjugated verb. There are grammar structures when you can attach the reflexive pronoun to the unconjugated verb (verboide), as we studied before with the indirect and direct object pronouns such as in the following examples:
Me voy a dormir. or Voy a dormirme.
Me tengo que despertar. or Tengo que despertarme.
Me debo de despedir. or Debo de despedirme.
Me estoy bañando. or Estoy bañándome.*
* Remember the orthographic stress
Notice: the two options are correct, the meaning is the same.
In the next list you have verbs related to personal care or daily routines that require a reflexive pronoun. Most are regular in the indicative mood, in the present tense, which you have already learned.
| Verbos relativos al cuidado personal o rutina diaria. | |
|---|---|
| afeitarse | to shave |
| bañarse | to bathe |
| cepillarse el pelo | to brush one’s hair |
| cepillarse los dientes | to brush one’s teeth |
| ducharse | to shower |
| lavarse (las manos) | to wash (one’s hands) |
| maquillarse | to put on makeup |
| peinarse | to comb one’s hair |
| ponerse la ropa | to put on clothes |
| quitarse la ropa | to take off clothes |
Complete the following sentences with the appropriate form of the indicated reflexive verb: lavarse, maquillarse, afeitarse, peinarse, despertarse (eàie).
- Los domingos yo ______________________ tarde (late).
- Mi novio no _________________________porque a mí me gusta la barba (beard).
- Ella _________________________ el pelo con champú (shampoo).
- Las actrices _____________________ mucho.
- Mi tío no ______________________ porque no tiene pelo.
Write the following sentences a different way by changing the position of the reflexive pronoun, but without changing their meaning. You will move the placement of the reflexive pronouns according to the examples we have shown you in the lesson.
- Voy a lavarme el pelo. ________________________________________
- Ella no tiene que maquillarse. ____________________________________
- Pedro se va a afeitar. _______________________________________
- Tenéis que acostaros temprano. ___________________________
Previously, we studied some irregular verbs related to the grammatical structures. We talked about verbs that always need a preposition and we studied “jugar a” as one of them. Also we already studied “acordarse de”. As you remember these grammatical structures help us express ourselves correctly. In this case the verb “acordar” without the preposition means: to agree; BUT with the preposition “de” the meaning changes “to remember” and remember it is also a verb that requires a reflexive pronoun: “ACORDARSE DE”. Now you have all the elements to practice this versatile verb. Now you know that when a Spanish verb in the infinitive has the letters “se” attached, it is showing that it is a verb that requires a reflexive pronoun.
TAREA
Write 10 sentences related to personal care or daily routines. Don’t forget to use the reflexive pronouns. Include when you do these activities or how often you do them to expand your skills. You will hand in your paper in the next class.
