Can anyone help explain when you use reflextive verbs.I can understand using them for things you do to yourself (lavarse etc) and when you're saying things like "i got up" "i went to sleep" etc, but they seem to be used for much more. If como is i eat, why do i need sometimes to say me como? I've conquered object pronouns, but this has me baffled.

Any help???

Elizabeth,

Let me go home and consult some Spanish grammars about this and I will post back to this board.

Shawn

I can't ever recall seeing or hearing "me como", but I DO remember hearing a mom say to her child: C�metelo, which I take to be used as English-speakers would say, "Eat it all up" Another reflexive construction which I admire in its shifting of blame from the speaker is: Se me rompi�....instead of "I broke the....whatever" it blames the broken object: The.....broke on me. Reflexive is also used for a sort of passive voice construction as in "Se habla espa�ol" --"Spanish is spoken" and the way some folks use "one" as an indefinite subject: No se debe hacer eso. "One ought not to do that" or (passively) "That ought not to be done"
for a free online tutorial that's pretty good, visit www.learnspanish.com

Thanks, Sue. Been trying to get my head around them all weekend, and think I'm getting there! Best advice was - they're different, just learn them . . . which I know sounds stupid, but it helps

Any other help?

The second lesson at www.learnspanish.com is much more useful than the first. Also, ponerse means more than to put on(clothes) it can also indicate "become"or "get" "me puse enferma" ---"I got sick" Ella se puso triste. Also, some verbs contain that "becoming" feature, like engordarse=to get fat; enojarse=to get angry, and the like.
People learning English are stymied by our use of "get" when it has to do with intangibles like that, not to mention getting up, down and around!

Hey Elizabeth, sorry I dropped in on this thread so late, it got by me and I was not notified of it as I usually am when somebody posts (program glitch I guess).

As silly as it may sound, "just learn them" is a frequently used concept in learning Spanish (ie, with irregular verbs it is the law).

Keep in mind that bodily function verbs like "comer" ("to eat"), "beber" ("to drink"), "tomar" ("to ingest" in this case) and even "mear" ("to pee") and "vomitar" ("to throw up" or "to vomit") not to mention a slew of others, can be inherently reflexive and can be used with or without the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, os, nos).

Examples:
� "Me bebo un vaso de aqua" ("I drink a glass of water").
� "Me cago en la leche" (no translation needed ).
� "Me como un bocadillo" ("I eat a sandwich").
� "Me tomo una manzana" ("I eat an apple")

Also, depending on the context on of these verbs can mean very different things. For example, "Me meo" means "I wet (pee) myself" or coloquially "I gotta take a piss baaaaad!" while "Me meo la cama" means "I wet my bead"

The reflexive version of these types of verbs is also used to stress the action. For example, "Me bebo un vaso de agua" is more emphatic than "Bebo un vaso de agua" and the imperative "B�bete un vaso de agua" is also much more so than "Bebe un vaso de agua" (both meaning "Drink a glass of water" but the reflexive more imperative than the other).

Other types of reflexive verbs often do not look like they should be used as reflexives. For example, "Me preparo" ("I prepare myself" or "I get ready") is normal usage for the reflexive verb "prepararse" but if you say "Me preparo un bocadillo" ("I prepare myself a sandwich"), the "me" is really just the indirect object (receiving the action) and the verb is not really reflexive at all. It is actually the verb "preparar" ("to prepare") and not "prepararse" ("to prepare oneself").

I think the vast majority of these "weird reflexive verbs" are in this category and it is not really the reflexive verb at all that is being used but rather the indirect object pronoun is recieving the action and making it look like a reflexive verb.

It really depends on the context but do not get frustrated since you need not say "Me como..." at all, you can just say "Como" and it is correct.

Saludos,
jer...

Hope I did not confuse you even more

Thanks both of you. Is getting clearer. Sue, that website is brilliant! And Jer, very impressed that you can pull yourself away from the San Isidro celebrations to help. Very much appreciated!

Plaza Mayor looks wonderful. Bet you won't get any sleep!

Jejejeje, sleep is for the weak

You are very welcome,
jer...

"comerse" can mean to eat a LOT.

Winston

very interesting!

A minute ago I posted my plea for help in speaking correctly since I learned Spanish everyplace but in school when I was a girl. Now, reading the posts about reflexive verbs it suddenly hit me that when you haven't learned a language academically, it's impossible to tell which constructions are "nice" idioms and which are just plain lousy grammar. There seems to be a difference between the mother saying "cometelo", the sports fan saying "andale" and the cook saying "se me fue la mano con la sal". So already this board is helpful to me, as I hadn't really conceptualized the problem in that way.

Jer---thanks for explaining that making a verb reflexive can make it imperative. Very helpful. Regarding similar, cannot resist sharing that when we moved to Argentina nearly 60 years ago and my mother began learning Spanish, she was truly horrified to realize that the store clerk inviting her to step over to the cash register was, in fact, asking if she wished to molest herself...I don't think Mother ever got over the experience.