Answer:
1 What Are Spanish Reflexive Verbs And How Do You Use Them?
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.
3 How To Know When To Use A Spanish Reflexive Verb
Spanish reflexive verbs overview
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: 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. 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.
Option 1: Before The Verb
Spanish reflexive verbs pronoun placement option 1
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
Spanish reflexive verbs pronoun placement option two
In a few instances, the reflexive pronoun is actually attached to the end of the reflexive verb itself:
In affirmative commands: ¡Cálmate! (Calm down!)
With gerunds: Están quedándose aquí. (They are staying here.)
With the infinitive: Vamos a 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.