Reflexive Verbs

Whenever the subject of the sentence (the doer of the action) and the object of the sentence (the receiver of the action) refer to the same person, we use the reflexive form of the verb. In English this is shown by the use of words such as myself, yourself, himself, herself, etc. The important fact is that the doer and the receiver of the action of the verb is the same person.

I dress myself every morning at six o'clock. (Reflexive)
I dress my son every morning at six o'clock. (Non-reflexive)

He washes himself before eating. (Reflexive)
He washes the dog on Saturdays. (Non-Reflexive)

The table below shows how to conjugate the reflexive verb afeitarse (to shave) in the present tense.

You always know when a verb is reflexive in Spanish because the infinitive form is written with the reflexive pronoun "se" (e.g., afeitarse, lavarse, levantarse, llamarse, etc.).

In English we sometimes drop the reflexive pronoun in regular speech, but in Spanish every reflexive usage requires a reflexive pronoun. For example, in English we can say "I shave every morning" or "I shave myself every morning." In Spanish there is only one option:

Yo me afeito toda mañana. - I shave myself every morning.

The reflexive pronoun is placed before the conjugated verb. The following examples show how reflexive pronouns are used with the verb "afeitarse".

Yo me afeito. - I shave myself.
Tú te afeitas muy rapido. - You shave yourself very quickly.
Guillermo se afeita muy despacio. - Bill shaves himself very slowly.
Nosotros nos afeitamos toda mañana. - We shave ourselves every morning.
Ellos se afeitan cada noche. - They shave themselves every evening.

afeitarse - to shave
alegrarse - to become happy
animarse - to become encouraged
asustarse - to become frightened
atrasarse - to get behind or delayed
callarse - to become quiet
cansarse - to become tired
confundirse - to become confused
desesperarse - to become disappointed
emocionarse - to become excited or emotional
enamorarse - to fall in love
enfadarse - to become angry
fastidiarse - to become annoyed
hartarse - to get tired of something
irritarse - to become irritated
mejorarse - to improve
molestarse - to become upset
nublarse - to become cloudy
ofenderse - to become offended
perderse - to become lost
secarse - to become dry
sorprenderse - to become surprised