Reflexive Verbs

This lesson is about reflexive verbs! A reflexive verb is used when the subject and object of the verb are the same. For example, “kill yourself”. Reflexive verbs are more common in Italian than in English – verbs which in English are too “obvious” to be used in the reflexive form (wake up, get up, wash, clean your teeth, and so on..) do need the reflexive form in Italian. So, for example, in Italian you might “suicide yourself”, absurd as it sounds in English! Many Italian verbs have reflexive forms. You can recognise them because they end in “-si”. For example: alzarsi (get yourself up) svegliarsi (wake yourself up) vestirsi (dress yourself) lavarsi (wash yourself) riposarsi (rest yourself) mettersi (put yourself) fermarsi (stop yourself) sedersi (sit yourself) When you use a reflexive verb you have to put the correct reflexive pronoun before the verbs. The reflexive pronouns are: io – mi tu – ti lui/lei/Lei – si noi – ci voi – vi loro – si Here are two examples of the conjugation of reflexive verbs in Italian: svegliarsi – to wake yourself up (io) mi sveglio (tu) ti svegli (lui/lei/Lei) si sveglia (noi) ci svegliamo (voi) vi svegliate (loro/Loro) si svegliano alzarsi – to get yourself up (io) mi alzo (tu) ti alzi (lui/lei/Lei) si alza (noi) ci alziamo (voi) vi alzate (loro/Loro) si alzano

Reflexive Verbs in the Present Perfect Tense Since all reflexive verbs use essere as the auxiliary verb, the past participle must agree with the subject. The word order is reflexive pronoun + essere + past participle. Mi sono divertita. I had fun. Si è sentito male. He felt bad. Prepositions & adverbs of place

at, to	a	over / above	sopra
in	in	under / below	sotto
on / up	su	inside	dentro
from, by	da	outside	fuori
of	di	around	intorno a
with	con	between	tra
without	senza	among	fra
for	per	near	vicino a
next to	accanto a	far	lontano da
behind	dietro	before	prima (di)
in front of	davanti a	after	dopo (di)
across	attraverso	against	contro
down	giù	toward	verso

Reflexive Verbs:

Reflexive verbs express actions performed by the subject on the subject. These verbs are conjugated like regular verbs, but a reflexive pronoun precedes the verb form. This pronoun

always agrees with the subject. In the infinitive form, reflexive verbs have -si attached to them with the final e dropped. Lavare is to wash, therefore lavarsi is to wash oneself. (Note that some verbs are reflexive in Italian, but not in English.)

Reflexive Pronouns
mi	ci
ti	vi
si	si

Common reflexive verbs:

to be satisfied with	accontentarsi di	to graduate (from college)	laurearsi
to fall asleep	addormentarsi	to wash up	lavarsi
to get up	alzarsi	to put on	mettersi
to be bored	annoiarsi	to get organized	organizzarsi
to get angry	arrabbiarsi	to make a reservation	prenotarsi
to be called	chiamarsi	to remember to	ricordarsi di
to forget to	dimenticarsi di	to make a mistake	sbagliarsi
to graduate (from high school)	diplomarsi	to feel (well, bad)	sentirsi (bene, male)
to have a good time	divertirsi	to specialize	specializzarsi
to shave (the face)	farsi la barba / radersi	to get married	sposarsi
to stop (oneself)	fermarsi	to wake up	svegliarsi
to complain about	lamentarsi di	to get dressed	vestirsi

Io mi lavo. I wash myself. Noi ci alziamo presto. We get up early. Si sveglia alle sette. She wakes up at seven.

The plural reflexive pronouns (ci, vi, si) can also be used with non-reflexive verbs to indicate a reciprocal action. These verbs are called reciprocal verbs and are expressed by the words each other in English.

to embrace	abbracciarsi	to run into	incontrarsi
to help	aiutarsi	to fall in love with	innamorarsi
to kiss	baciarsi	to greet	salutarsi
to understand	capirsi	to write to	scriversi
to meet	conoscersi	to phone	telefonarsi
to exchange gifts	farsi regali	to see	vedersi
to look at	guardarsi

Ci scriviamo ogni settimana. We write to each other every week. Vi vedete spesso? Do you see each other often?

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