I can say what I do in the morning and in the evening — get up, take a shower, go to bed — putting the pronouns me, te, se, nos, os before the verb.
Reflexive verbs and times of day
Verbos reflexivos: me, te, se…
Some verbs turn the action back on the subject: levantarse is literally “to lift yourself”, that is, to get up. You already know one: me llamo Elena, literally “I call myself Elena”. English “I get up” has no “myself”; Spanish needs the pronoun.
The infinitive of these verbs ends in -se: levantar + se = levantarse.
The pronoun goes BEFORE the verb and changes with the person: me, te, se, nos, os, se. All the forms are in the table below.
Negative: no goes before the pronoun — No me ducho por la noche. Question: ¿Te levantas temprano?
Times of day, with no clock time: por la mañana (in the morning), por la tarde (afternoon and early evening, from lunch until dark), por la noche (in the evening, at night). Note: in Latin America people say en la mañana; we use European Spanish here.
Remember now: acostarse gets ue in the stem in four forms — me acuesto, te acuestas, se acuesta, se acuestan. Nosotros and vosotros stay as they are: nos acostamos, os acostáis. The rule comes in the next lesson.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Yo ducho por la mañana” — without the pronoun me, ducho means “I give someone a shower”; correct: Yo me ducho.
• NOT “Se ducho” — the pronoun matches the person: me ducho.
• NOT “No ducho me” — the pronoun goes only before the verb.
• NOT “Nos acuestamos” — correct: nos acostamos.
Reflexive verbs: the pronoun before the verb
In acostarse the stem gets ue — in every person except nosotros and vosotros.
| Pronoun | levantarse (to get up) | acostarse (to go to bed) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | me | me levanto | me acuesto |
| tú | te | te levantas | te acuestas |
| él · ella · usted | se | se levanta | se acuesta |
| nosotros | nos | nos levantamos | nos acostamos |
| vosotros | os | os levantáis | os acostáis |
| ellos · ellas · ustedes | se | se levantan | se acuestan |
Lesson notes
Verbos reflexivos: me, te, se…
Some verbs turn the action back on the subject: levantarse is literally “to lift yourself”, that is, to get up. You already know one: me llamo Elena, literally “I call myself Elena”. English “I get up” has no “myself”; Spanish needs the pronoun.
The infinitive of these verbs ends in -se: levantar + se = levantarse.
The pronoun goes BEFORE the verb and changes with the person: me, te, se, nos, os, se. All the forms are in the table below.
Negative: no goes before the pronoun — No me ducho por la noche. Question: ¿Te levantas temprano?
Times of day, with no clock time: por la mañana (in the morning), por la tarde (afternoon and early evening, from lunch until dark), por la noche (in the evening, at night). Note: in Latin America people say en la mañana; we use European Spanish here.
Remember now: acostarse gets ue in the stem in four forms — me acuesto, te acuestas, se acuesta, se acuestan. Nosotros and vosotros stay as they are: nos acostamos, os acostáis. The rule comes in the next lesson.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Yo ducho por la mañana” — without the pronoun me, ducho means “I give someone a shower”; correct: Yo me ducho.
• NOT “Se ducho” — the pronoun matches the person: me ducho.
• NOT “No ducho me” — the pronoun goes only before the verb.
• NOT “Nos acuestamos” — correct: nos acostamos.