Reflexive Verbs and Daily Routines
In Portuguese, we use reflexive verbs to talk about actions we perform on ourselves. You will use them constantly when talking about your daily routine and personal care. You can spot them in the dictionary because they have the pronoun -se attached to the infinitive.
To conjugate these verbs, you use a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject of the sentence.
| |
|---|
| eu | me (myself) |
| tu | te (yourself) |
| ele / ela / você | se (himself / herself / yourself) |
| nós | nos (ourselves) |
| eles / elas / vocês | se (themselves / yourselves) |
In standard European Portuguese, these pronouns normally attach to the end of the conjugated verb with a hyphen.
Let's look at levantar-se (to get up). Pay special attention to the nós form: whenever you attach -nos to a verb ending in -s, you must drop the final -s of the verb (so levantamos becomes levantamo-nos).
| |
|---|
| eu | levanto-me |
| tu | levantas-te |
| ele / ela / você | levanta-se |
| nós | levantamo-nos |
| eles / elas / vocês | levantam-se |
Everyday Routine Verbs
Here are several more common reflexive verbs for your morning routine:
- Vestir-se (to get dressed)
- Pentear-se (to comb one's hair)
- Sentar-se (to sit down)
- Despachar-se (to hurry up)
Notice that pentear-se adds an "i" to its stem in several forms (eu penteio-me).
Personal Care Vocabulary
Here are a few useful nouns, plus how to talk about taking care of yourself. Notice that when talking about body parts, Portuguese usually uses the definite article (the face) rather than a possessive pronoun (my face).
Changing Pronoun Placement
While the pronoun usually attaches to the end of the verb, there are two important situations where its position changes.
1. "Magnet" words
Certain words, like quando (when) or negative words, act as magnets. When they are in the same clause as the verb, they pull the reflexive pronoun before the verb, without a hyphen.
(Note: The magnet only works within its own clause. If the reflexive verb is in a separate main clause, the pronoun stays safely at the end, as in the next example.)
2. With Infinitives
If the reflexive verb remains in its dictionary (infinitive) form because it follows a helper verb, you typically attach the pronoun to the end of the infinitive.
However, if there is a preposition like de right before the infinitive, the pronoun often slips between the preposition and the verb.
