In this Spanish grammar lesson you will learn about the reflexive verbs el presente conjugation.
In this lesson you will learn about:
Please refer to the Spanish A1 Page to get a better overview of Spanish grammar, if you are curious about how this fits in the overall structure of Spanish A1.
By the end of the lesson you will know all about when the reflexive verbs el presente conjugation!
In Spanish, there are some verbs that have the reflexive verb “se” attached to end of them.
When a verb has a “se” at the end of it, the action is done to oneself.
These kind of verbs are called reflexive verbs.
To illustrate this, I will use a verb that can work as a normal verb and as a reflexive verb.
acostar
Yo acuesto a los niños.
I put the children to bed.
acostarse
Todos los días me acuesto a las 10.
Every day I go to bed at 10 o’clock.
In the first example, the speaker is putting the children to bed. The verb doesn’t apply to the speaker.
In the second example, the verb applies to the speaker. It means that the speaker him/herself is going to bed. Therefore you use a reflexive verb.
How can you know when to use a reflexive verb or not?
If the verb is done to the speaker then it is generally safe to assume that you have to a reflexive verb.
When you start learning Spanish more and more, it becomes easier to distinguish when to use one.
Can all verbs be used as reflexive verbs?
No, this only applies to some.
Here is a list of common reflexive verbs that you are sure to encounter in day-to-day life:
| acostarse | to go to bed |
| acordarse | to remember |
| casarse | to get married |
| levantarse | to get up |
| llamarse | to be called |
| olvidarse | to forget |
| preocuparse | to worry |
| preguntarse | to ask yourself |
| sentarse | to sit down |
| sentirse | to feel |
| subject pronoun | reflexive pronoun | conjugated verb |
| yo | me | conjugated verb |
| tú | te | conjugated verb |
| él/ella/usted | se | conjugated verb |
| nosotros/nosotras | nos | conjugated verb |
| vosotros/vosotras | os | conjugated verb |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | se | conjugated verb |
This section will show you how to conjugate reflexive verbs.
There is a three-step method that will make everything very easy for you
In order to conjugate reflexive verbs in the present tense you have to:
In the conjugation table above you can see the reflexive pronouns. For this example, we will take “levantarse” which means “to get up/to raise” in English.
We will take this verb and conjugate it in the “yo” form using the three-step method.
The full verb of “to get up” is levantarse in French
Because we are conjugating in the “yo” form, we will take “ me “
When we conjugate the verb we get an o ending, so its becomes levant o
So if we wish to say “I get up” we must say:
Please don’t forget that the subject pronoun is optional.
This means that “ me levant o ” is also correct.
| reflexive Pronouns | reflexive pronouns in English |
| me | myself |
| te | yourself (tú) |
| se | himself/herself/itself/yourself (usted) |
| nos | ourselves |
| os | yourselves (vosotros) |
| se | themselves/yourselves (ustedes) |
You may still not understand what exactly the reflexive pronouns mean even if you know how to conjugate them.
In this table you can find the meaning of the reflexive pronouns.
These pronouns ensure that the verb actually applies to the speaker.
This section of the lesson on reflexive verbs el presente conjugation is about seeing reflexive verbs in sentences.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding of reflexive verbs el presente conjugation through examples.
sentarse (e > ie)
Yo me siento porque estoy cansado.
I am sitting down because I am tired.
olvidarse
Yo siempre me olvido el nombre de las personas.
I’m always forgetting people’s names.
preocuparse
Ella se preocupa por mi salud.
She worries about my health.
preguntarse
Siempre nos preguntamos por qué no podemos hacerlo.
We always wonder why we can’t do it.
casarse
No me sorprendería si David y Anna se casan.
I wouldn’t be surprised if David and Anna got married.
It’s not enough to just read this lesson.
You should test your knowledge to see if you really understood everything, and to be able to repeat the material.
At the end of every lesson you can do a small test.
You will see the sentences of the previous chapter. It is up to you to give the correct answer.
You will either need to fill in the blanks, choose the correct multiple choice option, or both.
Once you are done the correct answer will be shown.
You can redo the quiz as many times as you want!
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