You reflexive verbs in spanish indicate a subject who exercises and receives the action of the verb. They are accompanied by proper pronouns for each verbal person, the reflexive pronouns. These pronouns have their own placement rules, especially in situations involving compound tenses and noun forms of verbs. Let us explore, in more detail, the characteristics of this type of verb in Spanish.
Read too: Preposition – word that creates syntactic links with others
Structure and uses of reflexive verbs
Some verbs in Spanish are conjugated with pronouns in all their verb forms. These verbs are called reflective or pronominal and recognizing them is easy: in their infinitive form, they all end with the pronoun if, like wake up (wake up), sleep (to sleep), regret (regret), get up (get up) etc. Usually these verbs indicate that the subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb on itself, that is, also receives the action.
In Spanish there are many reflexive verbs that are used to talk about actions that are part of our routine, such as
shower (to have a bath), comb (brush the hair), get used to (shave), dress up (dressing up) etc. Some of these verbs can be reflexive rather than reflexive: if the subject performs the action on himself, the verb is reflexive and is used as a pronoun. Example:I get up every day to 7am.
(I get up every day at 7am.)
If, on the other hand, the subject performs the action on another person or thing, the verb is no longer reflexive and is used without the pronoun. Example:
This apparatus serves to rise heavy objects.
(This appliance is for lifting heavy objects.)
As reflexive pronouns refer to the subject who performs the action, each verbal person will have its own pronoun. Are they:
yo |
me |
you |
you |
he/she/usted |
if |
nostro/nosotras |
US |
vosotros/vosotras |
you |
they/they/usedes |
if |
Note that the reflexive third person pronoun is the same singular and plural.
Now let's look at some examples of clauses with reflexive verbs:
at what time get down?
(What time you go to sleep?)¿acuerdan Where is the restaurant where we went last week?
(Do you remember the restaurant we went to last week?)I don't understand why if you want of your work her.
(I don't understand why she complains about her work.)
See too: the conjunctions – the words that help in the articulation of sentences and texts
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Placement of reflexive pronouns
The position of pronouns that accompany reflexive verbs will always be before the verbs, in all tenses of the indicative and subjunctive modes, regardless of whether it is at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence:
Me shower every day.
(I shower every day.)we regret of having bought that department.
(We regret having bought that apartment.)
It is important to emphasize that, unlike the normative grammar of Portuguese, in Spanish a sentence may start with an oblique personal pronoun. This is demonstrated in the example above: according to Portuguese normative grammar, if we translated we regret per we regret, prayer would not be adequate. In Spanish there is no such problem.
There is also a rule for the position of pronouns. in times composed of spanish formed with the auxiliary verb know and the participle of the main verb, such as the perfect past tense composite it's the past tense pluscuamperfecto. In these verb tenses, the position of the pronoun will always be before the verb know. The pronoun between the verb is never used know and the participle. For example, the following prayers are correct:
Not yet I'm fond of this week.
(This week I haven't shaved yet.)When you come home, my cousin if he had gone.
(When I got home, my cousin was already gone.)
In turn, they would be incorrect if the position of the pronoun and the verb know was reversed:
Not yet he fond me this week.
When you come home, my cousin was gone.
As we said above, the position of the pronouns that accompany reflexive verbs will always be before the verbs. That's the rule. However, as every rule has its exceptions, there are three situations in Spanish – and only these three – in which the pronoun appears later of the verb.
→ affirmative imperative
Lavate las bros before eating.
(Wash your hands before eating.)
In the specific case of the affirmative imperative of vosotros/vosotras, their conjugated forms lose the letter d at the end of the word. For example, the imperative of you for the verb lean back should be berthed (coasted + the pronoun you). However, according to this rule, the imperative takes the form shoulders:
shoulders temprano, that mañana comienzan las clases.
(Sleep early, because classes start tomorrow.)
→ Infinitive and the gerund
Yeah it's late, I have to sister.
(It's late, I have to go.)My sister is making up in the bath.
(My sister is putting on makeup in the bathroom.)
In relation to infinitive and gerund, when we have a verbal periphrase - structure formed by a auxiliary verb and a noun form of the verb, such as the gerund and the infinitive, precisely –, the pronoun can also be placed before the first verb. of the periphrase, separately. So, we can rewrite the previous examples as follows:
Yeah it's late, I have to go.
My sister if you are making up in the bath.
In both cases, the pronoun is never placed between the two verbs. would be incorrect the prayers
...I have to go.
...is making up...
solved exercises
Question 1 - (UFPE/2011 - adapted)
The ghosts, accomodating themselves to the new circumstances, empiezan to become fond of mechanics. In the domicile of the Marquess of Ely, in Hove, near Brighton, London, ha hecho su mysterious apparition of a ghost that is not mysterious for being a ghost as for being a ghost exclusively photogenic. In her private department, the young marqués -25 years old took a photo of a friend with artificial light, convinced that he was alone with her. But the photography revealed that the marquess was wrong: besides, there was a ghost in the room. A ghost that nadie has known personally in photography, and therefore nadie can decide how to be in photography. reality, there is no testimony that it is conflicting, original and modernized spectrum is equal or at least similar to its portraits.
Gabriel García Márquez. the photogeny of the ghost.
Mark the correct option. In the first line of the text, the word “accommodándose”
a) is formed by a gerund and a reflexive pronoun.
b) is formed by a participle and a relative pronoun.
c) is formed by a participle and a pronoun.
d) is accented because it includes a gerund.
e) is conjugated in the subjunctive mode.
Resolution
Alternative A, as it is the only one that correctly expresses the noun form of the verb, which is in the gerund (ending in -walk), and the reflexive pronoun up.
Question 2 - (Uniube MG/2005, adapted)
Based on the text in the second table, “I have just discovered that in the espejo las cosas one comes upside down!”, we can state that the “IF” element has a function
a) of conjunction and imposes a condition.
b) of direct complement and indicates the object in the sentence.
c) indirect complement and indicates the subject in the sentence.
d) reflective of the verb present in the sentence.
e) variant of complements read/they.
Resolution
Alternative D, because the verb see if, conjugate as come on, expresses an action exercised and suffered by the subject, configuring reflexivity.
By Diego Guimarães Gontijo
Spanish teacher
