92 Venss VeRes 93

Note that se, me and so on are very rarely translated as himself, myself Subject pronoun Reflexive pronoun Meaning
@ (yo) myself
and so on in English. Instead of he dresses himself or they both me
themselves, in English, we are more likely to say he gets dressed or they (tri) te yourself
have a bath. (6D 5e himself
(ella) herself
) Some Spanish verbs can be used both as reflexive verbs and as ordinary (uno) oneself
verbs (without the reflexive pronoun). When they are used as ordinary itself
verbs, the person or thing doing the action is not the same as the person (usted) yourself
or thing receiving the action, so the meaning is different. (n05otros/nosotras) nos ourselves

Me lavo. lwash (myself). (vosotros/vosotras) os yourselves

Lavo la ropa a mano. lwash the clothes by hand. (ellos) se themselves
(ellas)
Me llamo Antonio. l'm called Antonio. (ustedes) yourselves
lLlama a la policia! Callthe police!
(Yo) me levanto temprano. I get up early.
Me acuesto a las 11. I goto bed at 11 o'clock. (El) se acuesta a las once. He goes to bed at eleven.
Acuesta al nifio. He puts the child to bed.
Ellos no se afeitan. They don't shave.
D The present tense forms of a reflexive verb work in iust the same way as an

Grammar Extra! ordinary verb, except that the reflexive pronoun is used as well.
Some verbs mean ALMOST the same in the reflexive as when they are used on their r) For more information on the Present tense, see page 69.
own.
Duermo. I sleep. >The following table shows the reflexive verb lavarse in full.
Me duermo. I go to sleep. Reflexive forms of lavarse Meaning
2Ouieres ir al cine? Do you want to go to the cinema?
(yo) me lavo I wash (myself)
Acaba de irse. ' He has just left.
(tf) te lavas you wash (yourself)
(61) se lava he washes (himself)
(ella) se lava she washes (herselD
A Forming the present tense of reflexive verbs (uno) se lava one washes (oneself)
it washes (itself)
L To use a reflexive verb in Spanish, you need to decide which reflexive se lava
(usted) se lava you wash (yourself)
pronoun to use. See how the reflexive pronouns in the table on the next
page correspond to the subject pronouns. (nosotros/nosotras) nos lavamos we wash (ourselves)
(vosotros/vosotras) os laviiis you wash (yourselves)
(ellos) se lavan they wash (themselves)
(ellas) se lavan they wash (themselves)
(ustedes) se lavan you wash (yourselves)

Some reflexive verbs, such as acostarse, are irregular. Some of these

irregular verbs are shown in the Verb tables in the supplement.

For further explanation of grammatical terms, please see pages viii-xii.