Los verbos reflexivos — The Pronoun Rule
🔄 Los verbos reflexivos — The Pronoun Rule
| Persona | Reflexive pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| yo | me | me levanto — I get up |
| tú | te | te duchas — you shower |
| él/ella/usted | se | se llama — he/she is called |
| nosotros | nos | nos levantamos — we get up |
| ustedes | se | se acuestan — they go to bed |
⭐ The key examples
- Me levanto a las siete. — I get up at seven.
- Te duchas por la mañana. — You shower in the morning.
- Se llama Carlos. — He is called Carlos.
📎 With an infinitive
When a reflexive verb follows ir a (going to…), you have two equally correct options:
- Pronoun attaches to the END of the infinitive: voy a levantarme / quiero ducharme
- Pronoun moves BEFORE the first verb: me voy a levantar / me quiero duchar
Both are correct. Use whichever feels natural — the examiner accepts either.
This is a Foundation A-grade paragraph. Notice how reflexive and non-reflexive verbs are mixed naturally:
Earn the mark scheme marks
💡 Exam Tip — Common Mistakes
These are the two errors that appear most frequently in Foundation exam scripts for reflexive verbs:
❌ Common error 1: Levanto me a las ocho.
✅ Correct: Me levanto a las ocho.
Why it costs marks: The reflexive pronoun must come before the conjugated verb, not after. Placing me after levanto is ungrammatical in Spanish — examiners cannot credit it under AO3 (accuracy in language).
❌ Common error 2: Nos acoste-mos temprano. (wrong: stem-change applied to nosotros)
✅ Correct: Nos acostamos temprano.
Why it costs marks: acostarse is an o→ue stem-changing verb, but nosotros is always the exception — the stem never changes in the nosotros form. The correct ending is -amos (keep the original stem: acost- + amos). The incorrect form acoste+mos would only appear in the subjunctive, which is not required at GCSE.