Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns

Reflexive verbs in Spanish refer to actions done by the subject to themselves. An example in English is “brush oneself.”
These verbs are often identified by the “-se” ending in their infinitive form such as “peinarse” (to comb oneself).
Reflexive pronouns are used to indicate that the subject and the object of the sentence are the same. In English, we use words like “myself”, “yourself”, “herself” etc.
The reflexive pronouns in Spanish include: me (myself), te (yourself, informal singular), se (himself, herself, yourself formal singular), nos (ourselves), os (yourselves, informal plural), and se (themselves, yourselves formal plural).
The conjugation of reflexive verbs involves matching the reflexive pronoun to the subject. For example: Yo me cepillo los dientes (I brush my teeth), Tú te cepillas los dientes (You brush your teeth)
When reflexive verbs are used in the infinitive form, the pronoun is placed at the end of the verb. For example: Necesito cepillarme los dientes (I need to brush my teeth).
Reflexive verbs can express daily routines e.g. levantarse (to get up), bañarse (to bathe), vestirse (to dress), acostarse (to go to bed) etc.
They can also express changes of state or emotion such as enfermarse (to get sick), enojarse (to get angry), preocuparse (to worry) etc.
When negating a reflexive verb, the “no” will always go before the reflexive pronoun. For example: No me siento bien (I don’t feel well).
Reflexive verbs are also common in reciprocal actions, where two or more people do something to each other. For example: Nos besamos (We kiss each other).
Although these verbs can sometimes show reciprocity, the main function of reflexive verbs and pronouns in Spanish is to show that the subject of a sentence is also its object.