In the photo above, Ramón is shaving his face. Since this is an action that he is doing to himself personally, a reflexive verb is used to express that action. Se afeita comes from the verb afeitarse, to shave oneself. In the last section, you learned something about reflexive verbs. Reflexive verbs are verbs used to express actions that a person does to him or herself rather than to someone else. 
For example, the verb “lavar” means to wash. The verb “lavarse” means to wash oneself. You can see the difference in how these verbs are used in the following sentences:	

	Arturo lava el carro.	Arturo washes the car.	
	Arturo se lava. 	Arturo washes himself.	
			
Also:			
	Beatrice mira a los muchachos. 	Beatrice looks at the children.	
	Beatrice se mira en el espejo. 	Beatrice looks at herself in the mirror.	
			
And:			
	Carlos pone la camisa en la maleta. 	Carlos puts the shirt in the suitcase.	
	Carlos se pone la camisa. 	Carlos puts on the shirt. 
(Carlos puts the shirt on himself.)	

In the video, we heard several examples of reflexive verbs as Pablo went through his morning routine. Go back to the video and see how many of these verbs you can hear.	
Por la mañana, me pongo el maquillaje. También, me pongo la camisa, los pantalones, los calcitenes, y los zapatos.
Afeitarse 	to shave (oneself)	
Bañarse	to bathe (oneself)	
Cepillarse	to brush (oneself) <This can be either teeth or hair.>	
Ducharse	to shower (oneself)	
Lavarse	to wash (oneself) <can be used with parts of the body>	
Maquillarse	to put on make up	
Peinarse	to comb (oneself) <hair>	
Pintarse	to put on make up	
Ponerse	to put clothing on oneself	
Quitarse	to take off <usually clothing> 	
Secarse	to dry (oneself) <your body or your hair>	
Vestirse	to get dressed	

The “se” on the end of the reflexive verb is called the “reflexive pronoun.” You can’t just ignore that pronoun. You MUST change the pronoun to fit the subject of the verb. The reflexive pronoun stands for words that end in “self.” Look at the following chart at the list of reflexive pronouns.	

Reflexive pronoun	The meaning in English	
(yo) me	Myself	
(tú) te	Yourself	
(él, ella, usted) se	Himself, herself, yourself	
(nosotros) nos	Ourselves	
(vosotros) os	Yourselves (in Spain)	
(ellos, ellas, ustedes) se	Themselves, yourselves (in Latin America)	

How does this look when you are using a verb? Let’s try it with the verb ponerse (to put on).	

(Yo) me pongo los zapatos.	(Nosotros) nos ponemos el abrigo.	
(Tú) te pones la camisa.	(Vosotros) os ponéis los pantalones.	
(Él) se pone la chaqueta.	(Ellos) se ponen los sombreros.	
(Ella) se pone los calcetines. 	(Ellas) se ponen los zapatos.	
(Usted) se pone la falda. 	(Ustedes) se ponen los guantes.	

Using the verb “mirarse”, look at the following sentences and say the word that goes in the blank. Check your answers by clicking on the “contestaciones” box.	

Pablo _____mira en el espejo. 
Nosotros _____ miramos frecuentemente.
Yo _____ miro también.
Tú no _____miras.	

FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=contestaciones"		

The reflexive pronoun goes in front of the conjugated verb. It is usually attached to the end of an infinitive. 
Los muchachos se lavan en el cuarto de baño.
Ellos no se lavaron anoche.
Benito va a lavarse mañana.	

In the Práctica area of section 2.05, you will have some more activities about reflexive verbs. Refer back to this page again to review and study the explanation and use of reflexive verbs. In section 2.06 we will continue with our study of reflexive verbs.