| me | (myself) |
| te | (yourself) informal |
| se | (yourself) formal* |
| nos | (ourselves) |
| se | (plural yourselves)* |
*Single and plural “you” are the same.
Pronoun can be placed before the conjugated verb or attached to the end of the infinitive.
(An infinitive is an unconjugated verb).
| Juan se lava el pelo. | John washes his hair (himself) | |
| Juan le gusta ducharse | John likes to shower (himself) | |
| Estamos lavándonos el pelo. | We are washing our hair (ourselves) (The present progressive -ando) | |
| Estoy peinándome el pelo. | I am combing my hair (myself) | |
| Me lavo la cara todos los días. | I wash my face myself every day. | |
| Yo lavo el perro. | I wash the dog. | |
| In that instance you would not use a reflexive pronoun. You don´t wash yourself, you wash the dog | ||
Use reflexive pronouns only when you, he, or she does something to myself, him-her-yourself.
Me, te, se, nos and se generally mean “self”.
NOTE: When adding endings to reflexive verbs (present progressive, -ing) you must
count back three vowels from the end and insert an accent on the third vowel…
Estoy lavándome. I am washing myself. Juan está lavandose.
If Juan puts on shoes that he borrowed from you, you would then say ---
Juan se pone tus zapatos. (Juan himself puts your shoes on himself)
Hester Chamberlain
Learning Assistance Center
Eastfield College