Reflexive Pronouns and Reflexive Verbs Spanish: Ultimate guide

Yo me visto, ella se baña…I dress myself, she showers herself?! Wait, what?!

Does it even make any sense?

Yep. We know reflexive verbs could be a headache for most Spanish students, and you are not the exception. Maybe you have heard some people saying oh the reflexive verbs are so difficult to understand!. Don’t freak out! It doesn’t have to be that hard. We know how it feels, and here we are to help you.

The good news is that you just found the best guide you could find anywhere else about reflexive verbs and reflexive pronouns. Mastering this topic will improve and enrich your Spanish 100%.

In this article we’ll cover:

• What is a Reflexive pronoun?
• How to use reflexive pronouns?
• What is a reflexive verb?
• How to identify a reflexive verb
• Type of reflexive verbs
• Natural reflexive verbs
• Emotions and moods
• Reciprocity
• Pronominal
• Non-reflexive verb
• Where to place the reflexive pronouns
• Before the reflexive verb
• Before and after the reflexive verb
• After the reflexive verb
• Final words

Let’s go for it!

What is a reflexive pronoun?

Before starting to talk about the reflexive verbs, first, it is necessary to talk about the Spanish reflexive pronouns. These are inseparable topics.

The Spanish reflexive pronouns are always used with the reflexive verbs and it agrees with the subject pronoun (Yo, Él, Ella). 

Reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize that the action of something or someone is performed on itself.

And here are the Spanish reflexive pronouns:

Subject pronouns	Reflexive pronouns	English
Yo	Me	Myself
Tú	Te	Yourself
Él-Ella-Usted	Se	Himself/Herself/Yourself (Formal)
Ustedes-Ellos/Ellas	Se	Yourselves-Themselves
Nosotros/Nosotras	Nos	Ourselves

Let’s review how to use the reflexive pronouns.

How to use reflexive pronouns?

The Spanish reflexive pronouns are usually placed before the reflexive verbs, and then the reflexive verb is conjugated normally according to the tense (simple present tense-indicative, preterite tense-past participle). 

There are other cases where the reflexive pronoun is placed at the end of the reflexive verb too, and we are going to check this out later. For now, let’s make it easy by placing the reflexive pronoun before the verb! 

You already know a reflexive verb! 

The reflexive verb Llamarse– To called oneself 

• What do you call yourself? – What is your name?
• ¿Cómo te llamas?

• I call myself Maria. – My name is Maria.
• Yo me llamo Maria.

Are you surprised? We know you are. We want to make it easy for you!

Let’s check out some examples with the Spanish reflexive verb Sentirse (Conjugated in simple present tense).

English	Spanish
I feel happy	Yo me siento feliz
You feel happy	Tú te sientes feliz
He feels happy	Él se siente feliz
You feel happy	Ustedes se sienten felices
We feel happy	Nosotros nos sentimos felices

Important to know:

• Reflexive pronouns are not optional: Also they only are used with reflexive verbs.
• Reflexive pronouns are not an abbreviation of the subject pronouns: Nos y Nosotros are something completely different, and nos is not an abbreviation.
• Reflexive pronoun have to match the subject in all tenses:

Some examples: Bañarse

Tense	Reflexive pronoun
Near future (To go):	Yo me voy a bañar- I am going to bathe
Simple present tense-Indicative:	Yo me baño- I bathe
Past participle tense -Preterite:	Ella se bañó- She bathed

• The position of the reflexive pronouns sometimes changes: When the verb is infinitive or commands.

Examples:

• I am going to shower
• Yo voy a bañarme

•  I have to sleep
• Tengo que dormirme

Now that you are clear about the reflexive pronouns, we could go deep about what is a reflexive verb next.

What is a reflexive verb?

A Reflexive verb is a verb where the subject is performing an action on itself. 

We know, we know that you are still confused! You must be thinking… Great, I don’t get it! Dude, what the heck is that! 

Está bien! We are going to explain and clarify it better now with some examples.

So in English, you could say.

Reflexive verb Examples
I wake up, I shower, I get dressed. (Myself)Me despierto, me baño, me visto. (Me)	Ana wakes up, Ana showers, Ana gets dressed. (Herself)Ana se despierta, Ana se baña, Ana se viste. (Se)
Subject who makes the action: MyselfSubject who receives the action: Me	Subject who makes the action: AnaSubject who receives the action: Ana

As you can see these actions are performed by the subject (Myself and Ana) and the same subject is receiving the action too. Also, the reflexive pronoun must be placed with the reflexive verb to make the emphasis as we mentioned before.

So now you are wondering… How do I identify these reflexive verbs?. And here we go…

How to identify a reflexive verb?

Identifying a reflexive verb is pretty easy, these verbs always end with “se” 

Now we are going to give you a list of the most common and useful Spanish reflexive verbs:

Reflexive verbs	English
Dormirse	To fall asleep
Despertarse	To wake up
Levantarse	To get up
Bañarse	To bathe
Vestirse	To get dressed

Let’s review some examples with these verbs:

• Do you get up early?
• ¿Tú te levantas temprano?

• We get dressed quickly
• Nosotros nos vestimos rápido

• They bathe after the workout
• Ellos se bañan después del ejercicio

• I fall asleep at 10 pm every night
• Me duermo a las 10 pm todas las noches

• Ana falls asleep at 7 am every day
• Ana se duerme a las 7 am todos los días

Got it now? 

Let’s dive into more reflexive verbs and let’s identify some more types of them!

Type of reflexive verbs

So we are going to go deep on the type of reflexive verbs. 

Remember! You don’t have to learn or memorize all of this grammar information, we just want to make it clear for you, and make it easy to identify it. 

There are three types. Let’s start with the most common reflexive verbs:

Natural reflexive verbs

These Spanish reflexive verbs are pretty easy to identify, we gave you a little list before in how to identify the reflexives. These verbs are related to routine, personal care, and daily actions. 

We are going to give you some more examples here:

Non-reflexive verbs	English	Reflexive verbs	English
Dormir	To sleep	Dormirse	To fall asleep
Despertar	To wake	Despertarse	To wake up
Levantar	To get up	Levantarse	To get up
Bañar	To bathe	Bañarse	To bathe
Vestir	To get dress	Vestirse	To get dressed
Afeitar	To shave	Afeitarse	To shave
Lavar	To wash	Lavarse	To wash up
Maquillar	To make up	Maquillarse	To put on makeup
Acostar	To go to bed	Acostarse	To go to bed
Cepillar	To brush	Cepillarse	To sit down

But now you must be wondering… non-reflexive verbs! What is going on here! 

Don’t freak out!

We are going to explain it to you now, and you will understand it easily.

These reflexive verbs can be non-reflexive too (some of them). It depends on the context.

How do we notice this? 

We notice it when the subject that performs the action is different from the subject that receives the action.

 Let’s check it out

Reflexive verb Example	Non reflexive verb Example
I shave (Myself)            Me afeito (Me)	I shave my friend            Afeito a mi amigo
Subject who makes the action: MyselfSubject who receives the action: Me	Subject who makes the action: MeSubject who receives the action: Friend

Here as you can see, Afeitarse-To shave is a reflexive verb in the first sentence because the object who performed and receive the action was Myself-Me, but in the second sentence, the subject who performed the action and the subject who received the action are different Me-Friend so in those cases the verb is not reflexive anymore so that’s why the reflexive pronoun is not even used there.

The key is to know that in the natural reflexive verbs, even if they are used as non-reflexive, the meaning of the verb doesn’t change, just the subject who receives the actions does.

We just gave you a more detailed structured explanation, to understand when the verb is reflexive, but the key is just to identify these verbs and to know the context! 

Let’s move to some examples with the Natural reflexive verbs:

• I brush my teeth
• Yo me cepillo los dientes 

• You always bathe slowly
• Tú siempre te bañas despacio

• She puts on pretty makeup
• Ella se maquilla bonito

• Juan shaves in the bathroom
• Juan se afeita en el baño

• We don’t wash our hands
• Nosotros no nos lavamos las manos

• Do you fall asleep very late?
• ¿Ustedes se duermen muy tarde?

• They don’t wake up early
• Ellos no se despiertan temprano

You see how the reflexive verbs are used?

Practice makes perfect!

Practice time I

Now it is your turn to practice the Reflexive verbs Spanish, fill in the blanks:

• The teacher get dressed very well
• El maestro siempre __________ (Vestirse) muy bien

• Luis does not shave every morning
• Luis no _________ (Afeitarse) todas las mañana

• Children bathe very early
• Los niño ___________(Bañarse) muy temprano

• Does your friend always put makeup on?
• ¿Tu amiga siempre ____________ (Maquillarse)?

• I always get up at 7 am
• Yo siempre ___________ (Levantarse) a las 7 am

Emotions and moods 

Reflexive verbs are also used to talk about emotions and feelings as well.

Here is the list of the most useful reflexive verbs about emotions and moods:

Reflexive verbs	English	Reflexive verbs	English
Enojarse	To get angry	Calmarse	To calm down
Alegrarse	To cheer up	Aburrirse	To get bored
Sentirse	To feel	Enfermarse	To get sick
Preocuparse	To worry	Enamorarse	To fall in love with
Sorprenderse	To be surprised	Emocionarse	To get excited

Let’s check out some examples:

• My boyfriend gets angry if I do not go to the party
• Mi novio se enoja si no voy a la fiesta

• I’m glad you’re going to Spain
• Me alegra que vayan a España (Subjunctive mood)

• I don’t feel good now
• No me siento bien ahora

• French classes make me bored
• Las clases de Francés me aburren 

Super cool! Isn’t it?

Now you could express your emotions with some reflexive verbs like a complete Spanish native speaker!

Practice time II

Now it is your turn to practice the Reflexive verbs Spanish, fill in the blanks:

• Laura feels happy, because her boyfriend is traveling to Paris
• Laura _________ (Sentirse) feliz, porque su novio está viajando a París

• Calm down kids please!
• ¡Niños __________ (Calmarse) por favor!

• Soccer bores me, I prefer to listen to music
• ___________ (Aburrirse) el fútbol, prefiero escuchar música

• I am excited about the marriage of Maria and Juan
• __________ (Emocionarse) el matrimonio de Maria y Juan

Reciprocity 

The reciprocal reflexive verbs are used to talk about actions that are performed by two or more subjects at the same time, in a reciprocal way or including exchange action, this leads to using the plural reflexive pronouns se and nos, let’s check a list of this reflexive verbs:

Reflexive verbs	English
Conocerse	To know each other
Casarse	To marry
Encontrarse	To meet
Pelearse	To fight each other
Ayudarse	To help each other
Saludarse	To say hello to each other

Let’s check out some examples:

• Ana fights a lot with her boyfriend
• Ana se pelea mucho con su novio 

• Juan and Maria got married in Mexico
• Juan y Maria se casaron en México

• My neighbor and I say hello to each other every morning
• Mi vecino y yo nos saludamos todas las mañanas

Important to know:

• In English using these verbs would be the action + each other, but in Spanish with these reflexive verbs is not necessary to use each other because it is implicit because of the use of the reflexive verb.

Examples:

• We met each other in Peru
• Nosotros nos conocimos en Perú

You could use the each other expression in spanish with some verbs if you want, with this you will emphasize the action, but as I told you is not needed to use in spanish

• They help each other in the school
• Ellos se ayudan el uno al otro en la escuela

• Hablar-To talk is not a reflexive verb, but it could be a reciprocal action depending in the context, Hablarse-To talk each other

Example:

• Maria and I talk each other everyday
• Maria y yo nos hablamos todos los días

These verbs are so useful to know! Choose the ones that you could use more in your vocabulary!

Practice time III

Now it is your turn to practice the Reflexive verbs Spanish, fill in the blanks:

• We met in college a long time ago
• Nosotras _________ (Conocerse) en la universidad hace mucho tiempo

• The children fight over the toy
• Los niños __________ (Pelearse) por el juguete

• Sara and Juan are getting married in a week, they are very happy
• Sara y Juan ___________ (Casarse) en una semana, ellos están muy felices

• Do you guys meet at the park later?
• ¿Ustedes __________ (Encontrarse) en el parque más tarde?

Pronominal Verbs

These reflexive verbs are the ones that only can be reflexive, which means that if you try to use them in a non-reflexive way, they will not make any sense at all, so basically they are pure reflexive verbs.

Here we have a list of the pronominal verbs:

Reflexive verbs	English
Arrepentirse	To regret
Suicidarse	To commit suicide
Quitarse	To take off
Adueñarse	To take ownership
Antojarse	To crave
Sentarse	To sit down

Examples:

• I regret not traveling to Argentina
• Me arrepiento de no viajar a Argentina

• Ana takes off her jacket, because it is hot
• Ana se quita la chaqueta, porque hace calor

• Now we crave a chocolate cake
• Ahora nos antoja una torta de chocolate

Practice time IV

Now it is your turn to practice the Reflexive verbs Spanish, fill in the blanks:

• We sit in the park to rest
• Nosotros ____________ (Sentarse)  en el parque para descansar

• The children take off their jackets because it is very hot now
• Los niños ________ (Quitarse) la chaqueta porque ahora hace mucho calor

• I’m really hungry, I crave a milk chocolate cake now
• Tengo mucha hambre, ahora _______ (Antojarse) una torta de chocolate con leche 

• The Dj Avicii committed suicide in 2018
• El Dj Avicii _________ ( Suicidarse) en el año 2018

Non reflexive verbs

These non-reflexive verbs could be a little bit tricky.

Because they could be used in a reflexive way and in a non-reflexive way. In these two cases, most of the time the meaning of the verb changes completely!

But don’t worry, here am going to give a pretty useful list, where you could choose the ones that you consider useful for your vocabulary:

Non-reflexive verbs	English	Reflexive verbs	English
Llamar	To call	Llamarse	To be called / To be named
Ir	To go	Irse	To leave
Levantar	To pick up/To lift	Levantarse	To get up
Ocupar	To take up/To fill up	Ocuparse	To deal with / To take care of
Perder	To lose	Perderse	To get lost
Volver	To return	Volverse	To become
Poner	Tu put	Ponerse	To put on
Encontrar	To find	Encontrarse	To feel / To get together

Now let’s review some examples in both ways in the reflexive and not reflexive way just to make it clearer:

Reflexive:

• My name is Maria, a pleasure to meet you – I am called Maria, a pleasure to meet you
• Me llamo Maria, un placer conocerte

Non reflexive:

• Maria calls the police for safety
• Maria llama a la policía por seguridad

Reflexive:

• She goes to Madrid tomorrow
• Ella va a Madrid mañana

Non reflexive:

• She leaves because the party is boring
• Ella se va porque la fiesta es aburrida

Reflexive:

• They get up very early every day
• Ellos se levantan muy temprano todos los días

Non reflexive:

• They lift the plates from the table now
• Ellos levantan los platos de la mesa ahora

Reflexive:

• I find the Spanish book in the library
• Yo encuentro el libro de español en la biblioteca

Non reflexive:

• I meet my friends in the library
• Yo me encuentro con mis amigos en la biblioteca

Note:  These non-reflexive verbs most of the time are used with the object pronouns, another topic that you could check out here with us.

Practice time V

• The family got lost in the city center
• La familia _________ (Perderse) en el centro de la ciudad

• Maria and Ana get up very early to jog on the beach
• Maria y Ana ___________ (Levantarse)  muy temprano para trotar por la playa

• My daughter’s name is Carolina, she is studying law at the university
• Mi hija __________ (Llama) Carolina, ella está estudiando derecho en la universidad

• Don’t worry, I take care of your work
• No te preocupes, yo _________ (Ocuparse) de tu trabajo

Where to place the reflexive pronoun

Now the million-dollar question that we wanted to solve since the beginning, but it was necessary to understand the reflexive verbs first … Where do you place the reflexive pronouns?

Before the Reflexive Verb

So far we have placed the reflexive pronoun before the reflexive verb (conjugated verb) because that is how it works in most of all Spanish tenses

Example:

• I wake up at 10 am
• Yo me despierto a las 10 am

On the other hand, there are some cases where the Spanish reflexive pronouns me, te, se, nos, se could be placed before and after or just after the end of the verb, let’s review these cases.

Before and after the reflexive verb

Progressive verbs (-ing): As you may know the -ando -iendo verbs (present and past progressive-continuous tense). When you use a reflexive verb you could put the reflexive pronoun before the reflexive or after the reflexive verb.

Examples:

Before the reflexive verb	After the reflexive verb
I am bathing
Me estoy bañando	Estoy bañandome
I am washing my hands
Me estoy lavando las manos	Estoy lavandome las manos

As you can see the reflexive pronoun could be at the beginning or the end of the progressive (ando/iendo) verbs, and the meaning is the same in English. Feel free to use both ways!

• Infinitive verbs: When the reflexive verb is not conjugated, you could put the reflexive pronoun before and after the verb too

Examples:

Before the reflexive verb	After the reflexive verb
She wants to leave early
Ella se quiere ir temprano	Ella quiere irse temprano
We have to sleep early
Nosotros nos tenemos que dormir temprano	Nosotros tenemos que dormirnos temprano
Ana is going to sit down
Ana se va a sentar	Ana va a sentarse

After the reflexive verb:

• Imperative mood (Commands): When you give orders using the reflexive verbs, you have to put the reflexive pronoun at the end of the reflexive verb

Examples:

• Wake up! – ¡Despiértate! 
• Calm down Juan! – ¡Cálmate Juan!

Exception for negative sentences – Imperative mood: If you want to use reflexive verbs in negative sentences in the imperative mood, you have to place the reflexive pronoun always before the reflexive verb 

Examples:

• Don’t take a bath now – No te bañes ahora 
• Don’t wake up early – No se despierten temprano 

Note: The imperative mood (Commands) is an advanced topic. So if you want to go deep into this click here. 

Practice time VI

• Juan and Maria wake up at 6am every day, then quickly get dressed for work.
• Juan y Maria __________ (Despertarse)  a las 6am todos los días, luego _________ (Vestirse) rápidamente para trabajar

• You met the Spanish teacher in the cafe, she was cheered up to see all her students there.
• Ustedes _________ (Encontrarse) con la maestra de español en el café, ella _________ (Alegrarse) de ver a todos sus estudiantes allí

• Luis got sick during the weekend but now he is better 
• Luis __________ (Enfermarse) durante el fin de semana, pero ahora está mejor

• We are sleeping early, to get up at 6 am tomorrow
• Nosotros estamos __________ (Dormirse) temprano, para _________ (Levantarse) a las 6am mañana

• They are getting married now in Hawaii
• Ellos están ___________ (Casarse) ahora en Hawaii

• They are putting on makeup for tonight’s event.
• Ellas __________ (Maquillándose) para el evento de esta noche

• Wake up Juan! The taxi is coming soon.
• ___________ (Despertarse) Juan!, el taxi viene pronto

Final words

And here we are, Congratulations! Felicitaciones!

You just found and read the best ultimate guide ever that you could find about reflexive pronouns and reflexive verbs in Spanish! 

This guide is complete gold! Keep this guide on hand because you will need it on the way to learning Spanish. Believe us! This saved the life of a lot of our students! 

Stop speaking like a robot and start to speak like a native with the reflexive verbs Spanish!

Let’s make clear that you don’t have to memorize all of these reflexive verbs. Don’t stress out!

Practice makes perfect. Just take what you need and work with it. The best thing you could do is just to choose the most useful reflexive verbs and start to include them in your vocabulary.

Check out our series of Complete Spanish Grammar articles – everything you’ll ever need to know about Spanish grammar.

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