Blog • Spanish

Spanish Reflexive
Verbs Explained:
A 5-Part Guide For
Confused Spanish
Learners
by Olly Richards

When you learn Spanish and you

hear the term, “reflexive verbs,”
what comes to mind?

Do you immediately think of an

example of a reflexive verb? Or
does the term fill you with dread
because you'd really rather not
think about the rules of grammar…
in any language?

No matter how you react when you

hear the term—or if you have no
idea what it even means—there's
no need to panic. You've probably
been using these verbs already,
especially if you've made it to an
intermediate level of Spanish.

Reflexive verbs are such a big

part of everyday Spanish that
chances are good you know
some already
already…even if you don't
know exactly why they work that
way.

You might not have many issues

using them. But you probably have
questions, especially when it
comes to new verbs or more
complicated sentences.

Answering those questions is the

goal of this post. I'll go over five
common questions with you:

1. What are reflexive verbs?

2. What are some common
reflexive verbs in Spanish?
3. How do I know when a
reflexive verb is really needed?
4. Where do I place reflexive
pronouns?
5. What do I need to know to fully
master reflexive verbs?

You can find the answers to many

of these questions in my Fluent
Spanish Academy video all about
reflexive verbs in Spanish, or you
can scroll down to read more.

By the end of this post, you'll know

everything you need to use Spanish
reflexive verbs fluently and
confidently.

By the way, if you want to learn

Spanish through stories, not rules,
my top recommendation for
language learners is my Uncovered
courses, which teach you through
StoryLearning®. Click here to find
out more and try out the method for
free.

#1 What Are Spanish

Reflexive Verbs And
How Do You Use
Them?
5-MinuteSpanishGrammer FLUENT
SPANISHACADEMY

61
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Before jumping into Spanish

reflexive verbs, let's take a step
back and review a few parts of
speech so this article will make
total sense.

Verbs are words that express

action. In Spanish, they end in –ar,
–ir, or –er before being conjugated
to match the subject.

The subject of a sentence is the

person, place, or thing that is doing
something. Identifying the subject
is especially important in Spanish
because the verb conjugation will
change depending on the subject.

Pronouns are words that take the

place of a noun in a sentence. In the
following example, ella takes the
place of “Maria” in the second
sentence:

Maria tiene que ir a la escuela hoy.

Ella se olvidó sus libros en el aula.

Those three parts of speech are

all you need to know to
understand reflexive verbs.

As for Spanish reflexive verbs,

they're a special type of verb that
direct back to the subject.

You can see an explanation right

there in the name: reflexive verbs
and pronouns reflect back to
the subject who is doing the
action. For this reason, the
conjugation always matches the
subject of the sentence:

Nos fuimos del concerto temprano.

(We left the concert early)

In Spanish, there are five reflexive

pronouns:

me
te
se
nos
and os

Note that se can function as a

second- or third-person pronoun
(usted or él/ella) as well as a
singular or plural pronoun
(usted/ustedes or ellos/ellas).

In this example, both the verb

conjugation (fuimos) and the
reflexive pronoun (nos) match the
subject (we). That's why it's so
important to know exactly what
the subject is in any given
sentence.

#2 The Most Common

Spanish Reflexive
Verbs
Here's a list of some of the most
common reflexive verbs in Spanish:

Irse (to leave)

Acordarse (to remember)
Olvidarse (to forget)
Sentirse (to feel)
Darse (to give oneself)
Encontrarse (to find oneself)
Preocuparse (to worry)
Fijarse (to take notice)
Casarse (to marry)
Sentarse (to sit down)
Levantarse (to get up)
Despertarse (to wake up
oneself)
Preguntarse (to wonder)
Llamarse (to call oneself)
Creerse (to believe)
Reunirse (to meet up or
reunite)
Cuidarse (to take care)

Some reflexive verbs are always

reflexive, while others have both
reflexive and non-reflexive forms,
which I'll talk about next.

#3 How To Know
When To Use A
Spanish Reflexive Verb
ReflexiveVerbs-Review

Alwaysreflexive
Whatarereflexiveverbs? Sequejabanmucho
Reflexiveverbsdirecttheaction (Theycomplainedalot)

backtothesubject.
Motion
Sevamañana.
(Heleavestomorrow)

Routines
Medespertéalas8. Reciprocals
(Iwokeupat8) Nosencontramosayer.
(Wemetupyesterday)
Emotions
Teaburririas.
(You'dgetbored)

SPÄNISHACADEMY

There are five basic categories of

reflexive verbs: routines, motion,
emotions, reciprocals, and verbs
that are always reflexive.

Routines: These are verbs that

describe daily routines, usually
surrounding getting up and
ready each day, such as
despertarse, peinarse, and
levantarse.
Motion: Some verbs, such as
irse, describe motion or
movement.
Emotions
Emotions: Many emotions use
reflexive forms, including
aburrirse, preocuparse, and
crearse.
Reciprocals are only reflexive
in their plural forms, meaning
two or more people are doing
something together or to each
other, like in the case of
casarse or encontrarse.
Always reflexive: A small
number of Spanish verbs are
always reflexive, including
quejarse de (to complain
about), darse cuenta de (to
realize), and arrepentirse (to
repent).

Whether or not a verb is

reflexive changes the meaning
of the sentence
sentence. So it's a good idea
to know whether you want the
reflexive form or not.

Por ejemplo: Start by identifying the

subject in the following sentence:

Me desperté a las ocho. (I woke

up at 8.)

The subject is “I”, so the reflexive

verb is conjugated in the first
person (desperté). I am waking up
myself, so the reflexive pronoun is
me.

However, if I woke up someone else,

that changes which verb form I
need:

Desperté a los niños a las ocho.

(I woke up the kids at 8).

The verb is still conjugated in the

first person because I am still the
subject of the sentence. In this case,
however, the verb is no longer
reflecting back to the subject, so I
don't use the reflexive form.

And what if the children woke

themselves up? I'd go back to using
the reflexive form:

Los niños se despertaron a las

ocho. (The kids woke up at 8.)

#4 Where Do You Place

Spanish Reflexive
Pronouns?
In the examples above, the reflexive
pronouns were all placed directly
in front of the reflexive verb. This is
the common and correct placement
in many situations, but not all.

In reality, you have two options

for pronoun placement
placement.

Option 1: Before The Verb

Pronounplacement-option1
Subjunctive
-Appliestoalltensesand Quieroquetediviertas

moodsexceptAFFIRMATIVE
Progressive
Seestánquedandoaqui
commands

Perfecttenses
Yamehabiamudado
-Pronounscomebeforethe
verb,compoundtenseor Negativecommand
Notepreocupes
construction

Popularfuture
Nosvamosacasar

SPANISHACADEMY

Reflexive pronouns come before

the verb, compound tense, or
construction in all tenses or moods
except affirmative commands.

In these examples, notice that the

reflexive pronoun comes before the
entire verb phrase in cases where
estar or haber form the complete
conjugation:

In the subjunctive: Quiero que

te diviertas. (I want you to have
fun.)
In the progressive: Se están
quedando aquí. (They are
staying here.)
In the perfect tense: Ya me
había mudado. (I had already
moved.)
In negative commands: No te
preocupes. (Don't worry.)
In the popular future: Nos
vamos a casar. (We're going to
get married.)

Option 2: After The Verb

Pronounplacement-option2
Affirmativecommands
¡Calmate!
Cuidense
>AFFIRMATIVEformal/informal Sentémonos

commands(onlyoption2)
Gerunds
Estánquedándoseaqui
>Gerundsandinfinitives(option1

&2)
Infinitives
Vamosacasarnos

SPANISHACADEMY

In a few instances, the reflexive

pronoun is actually attached to the
end of the reflexive verb itself:

In affirmative
commands: ¡Cálmate! (Calm
commands
down!)
gerunds: Están
With gerunds
quedándose aquí. (They are
staying here.)
infinitive: Vamos a
With the infinitive
casarnos. (We're going to get
married).

You probably noticed that the last

two examples, the gerund and
infinitive, are variations of similar
sentences from Option 1. That's
because with gerunds and
infinitives, you can choose
between either placement
option.

#5 Truly Mastering
Reflexive Verbs in
Spanish
ReflexiveVS.Nonreflexive

Medespertéalas8.
Verbreflectsonthesubject

Despertéalosniñosalas8.

Verbisdirectedat'losniños'

Teaburriríasconlasclases.
Verbreflectsonthesubject(you)
Lacaseteaburriría.

Verbisdirectedat'you'
Subjectistheclass
SPANISHACADEMY

The key to truly mastering reflexive

verbs in Spanish is to know the
difference between reflexive
and non-reflexive versions of
the same verb.

“Get bored” doesn't exist in Spanish,

so aburrir/aburrirse is a great
example for you to look at:

Te aburrirías con las clases.

(You'd get bored with these
classes.)

In this example, the boredom

reflects back on you. You are
getting bored, so the reflexive verb
(aburrirse) is appropriate here.

On the other hand, if you want to

say that the class itself is boring,
that does not require the reflexive
form of the pronoun:

La clase te aburriría. (The class

would bore you.)

In this example, the class is the

subject and a pronoun isn't needed
to reflect back to the subject at all.

Here's another set of examples,

showing how you would decide
whether or not the reflexive form is
called for:

Juan y Tatiana se acordaron de

la primera vez que fueron al
restaurante. (Juan and Tatiana
remembered the first time they
went to the restaurant.)
Juan y Tatiana acordaron el
restaurante para la fiesta. (Juan
and Tatiana agreed on the
restaurant for the party.)

In the case of acordar and

acordarse, the meaning changes
completely whether or not you use
the reflexive form of the verb.
Acordar means to agree. Acordarse,
on the other hand, means to
remember.

Here are a few more verbs that

have completely different
meanings in their reflexive forms:

dormir (to sleep)/dormirse (to

fall asleep)
poner (to put)/ponerse (to put
on)
probar (to try)/probarse (to try
on)
quitar (to take away)/quitarse
(to take off)
llevar (to carry)/llevarse (to
take)
volver (to return)/volverse (to
turn around)

Practice Makes
Perfect…Or Close
Enough, Anyway

In Spanish, many verbs are more

literal than in English.
Nos encontramos literally means
“to find each other”, whereas in
English we would say “we met up”
instead.

Many of these distinctions come

with practice and exposure to
plenty of authentic Spanish
conversations.

So in addition to revising the rules

for using reflexive verbs in Spanish,
be sure to get plenty of
exposure to authentic Spanish
through reading
reading, listening to, and
speaking Spanish every single day.

You'll soon be able to pick out

reflexive verbs in real time. They
will become second nature to you,
and you'll be able to use and
understand them without having to
think about it beforehand.

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