Professor Dave here, let’s learn about reflexive verbs.
An important concept in Italian is that of reflexive verbs, or verbi riflessivi.
This word comes from a word in Latin which means “bending back”, and this derivation
is actually quite helpful in understanding what reflexive verbs do.
They bend back towards the subject.
This is done with the help of things called reflexive pronouns.
To put this into context, let’s recall how transitive verbs transfer action from the
subject to the object.
The subject is Giacomo, but the vegetables receive the action, as they are purchased
and washed.
In this way, reflexive verbs are not too different from transitive verbs, except that with these,
the subject and the object will coincide.
Let’s do this to the previous example.
Now Giacomo is not washing vegetables, he is washing himself.
And in such a case, we use a different pronoun, the pronoun si.
This pronoun is always found in the infinitive form of reflexive verbs, which makes their
identification very easy.
For infinitives that end in ARE, ERE, or IRE, we get ARSI, like with alzarsi, ERSI, like
with radersi, and IRSI, like with vestirsi.
However, if we are to conjugate these verbs, we must use the special reflexive pronouns
in front of the verb.
These look more or less just like the direct object pronouns, except for the third person,
which will be the new one we just learned.
Let’s do the full conjugation of the three verbs we already mentioned.
For alzarsi, a first conjugation verb, we can have:
Now for radersi, a second conjugation verb:
And lastly for vestirsi, which belongs to the third conjugation:
Now you may recognize why the most important part will be to familiarize yourself with
the list of reflexive verbs, so that you will never forget to add these pronouns.
As we go over this list, we should note that some of these verbs have English translations
that don’t always include words like myself and yourself, so these are sometimes challenging
to remember to categorize as reflexive.
A large number of these verbs are in the first conjugation and therefore easy to conjugate,
and here they are.
Now a few in the second conjugation.
Just a couple in the third conjugation.
Let’s try a few of these in some sentences with their conjugated forms.
When using these in the past tense, remember that reflexive verbs always use the auxiliary
essere, and consequently the past participle must agree with the subject.
We should note that regarding the position of the reflexive pronouns, the same rules
apply as for the direct object.
When the reflexive verb is in the infinitive, the pronoun must follow.
When reflexive verbs are used in the infinitive with the modal verbs potere, volere, and dovere,
the pronoun can precede the modal, or follow enclitically.
When reflexive verbs are used in imperative form, the pronouns will always follow, as usual.
Now that we know how to use reflexive verbs, let’s check comprehension.