Reflexive pronouns (mă, te, se, ne, vă)

Reflexive Pronouns

When you talk about a daily routine—like waking up, washing, or getting dressed—you are often describing actions you perform on yourself. In Romanian, these verbs require reflexive pronouns.

Here are the accusative reflexive pronouns matched with their corresponding subjects:

The reflexive pronoun is placed directly in front of the verb. Let's look at a se trezi (to wake up):

Notice how the third-person pronoun se is used for both singular (el/ea) and plural (ei/ele) subjects. It is also used with question words like cine (who).

Washing and Body Parts

Another very common reflexive verb is a se spăla (to wash oneself). In English, you might say "I wash my face," using a possessive word. In Romanian, you use the reflexive pronoun along with the preposition pe (on) followed by the body part. You are literally saying "I wash myself on the face."

If you want to mention what you are washing with, you use cu (with), such as with soap (săpun):

Continuing the Routine

The reflexive pattern continues throughout the morning routine with verbs like a se îmbrăca (to get dressed) and a se pregăti (to get ready).

Here is how the plural reflexive pronouns ne (we) and vă (you all) look in action:

Negating Reflexive Verbs

Making a reflexive verb negative is very simple. Place the negative word nu directly in front of the reflexive pronoun.

Let's see this contrast using the verb a se grăbi (to hurry):