Reflexive verbs that aren't always reflexive.

[eventer289]

Something that has confused me is when to make certain verbs reflexive and when to not. Besides the obvious reflexive verbs, there are certain verbs that I hear made reflexive that I do not know the difference between.

For example, when would one use morrirse or morrir, caer or caerse, and quedarse or quedar? I'm sure there are more verbs like this, but these are the only ones I can think of off of the top of my head.

Basically what I am asking is what is the difference between "Él se murrió", and "Él murrió"---that kind of thing.

Thanks of the help!

[Beckett]

Something that has confused me is when to make certain verbs reflexive and when to not. Besides the obvious reflexive verbs, there are certain verbs that I hear made reflexive that I do not know the difference between.

For example, when would one use morrirse or morrir, caer or caerse, and quedarse or quedar? I'm sure there are more verbs like this, but these are the only ones I can think of off of the top of my head.

Basically what I am asking is what is the difference between "Él se murrió", and "Él murrió"---that kind of thing.

Thanks of the help!


This is complicated and not something that can be briefly explained, especially since Spanish uses a particular structure in these instances that don't exist in English, making it, at times, difficult to wrap our minds around the exact meaning. You use the term "reflexive" but as you already noted, not everything that has a "se" in front of it is reflexive.

Here is a good summary of different ways that "se" is used in Spanish. http://spanish.about.com/library/beginning/aa-beg-verbs-reflexive.htm

Check it out and if you have additional questions about any of the specific categories described on that page, fire away.

Regarding the verbs you mentioned:

morir = to die
morirse = depending on context, can mean "to pass away" or "to be dying" (morirse de ganas) Difficult to specify further without context.

caer = to fall
caerse = to fall down

quedar = depending on context, can mean to remain, to be located, to agree on. Check here for examples: http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=quedar

quedarse = depending on context, can mean to stay, to keep, to become. Check here for examples: http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=quedarse

[delgado]

I guess by your question that you already know the grammar behind it so i wont bore you with it, however in spanish alot of the time verbs are made reflexive to change the meaning ( normally for coloquial/slang meanings)...

here are some examples......

me muero por verte = i am dying to see you

me quedo aqui un rato = i'm staying here for a while

me he comido/tirado = i have had sexual relations with

no te pongas asi = don't be like that

uff there are hundreds but i guess that you get the point.....

Hope this helps!!

[gastephen]

Just as an aside, I think it is probably better to refer to such verbs when talking generally as pronominal rather than reflexive, as this includes the cases of true reflexivity (subject acting upon self), reciprocity (subjects acting on each other), effusivity (e.g. comerse algo, to eat something all up), and the instances where no non-'reflexive' form exists (e.g. arrepentirse).