Spanish Study Group Session 1 Class Notes - Indirect Object Pronoun Verbs and Reflexive Verbs

Class Notes for:
lunes, octubre 26, 2009 10:52:05 PM (revised)
and lunes, noviembre 2, 2009
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At the October 26 session, we discussed the translation of the English word "to like", or "to be pleasing:"

Gustarle

Gustarle is in a group of Spanish verbs called "Indirect Object Pronoun Verbs:"

These verbs must be conjugated with an indirect object pronoun. This grammatical construction does not exist in English; it is an idiom (modismo).

The following table shows conjugations for indirect object pronoun verbs in the singular and plural:

GUSTAR - to like

SINGULAR                PLURAL
me gusta el libro.     me gustan los libros.
te gusta el libro.      te gustan los libros.
le gusta el libro.      le gustan los libros.
nos gusta el libro.    nos gustan los libros.
os gusta el libro.      os gustan los libros.
les gusta el libro.     les gustan los libros.

This idiomatic construction may use the indirect object pronoun as the subject of a sentence. In addition, these verbs can also be joined with the infinitive form of a verb which follows:

We like to read - Nos gusta leer.

When constructing these idiomatic expressions, the indirect object precedes the verb. As Arelene Sieman pointed out, the verb can only be conjugated in the third person singular or plural, depending on the grammatical number of the subject. In a later class, Profesora Schinkel also emphasized this point.

The following verbs require an indirect object pronoun (the le represents the pronoun in the infinitive):

convenirle to suit, be good for
encantarle to love something
entusiasmarle to be excited about something
faltarle to be missing something, to not have
fascinarle to fascinate, to be fascinated by
gustarle to like
hacerle falta to need something
importarle to care about something, to mind
interesarle to be interested in
quedarle to have something left, or remain
sobrarle to have more than enough of something
tocarle to be one's turn

For example:
I care about school. “School” is singular, so the verb, importar, will be in the third person singular, and we end up with Me importa la escuela (literally: School is important to me).

In the sentence "I like books," the subject is plural, so the verb will be conjugated in the third person plural: Me gustan los libros (literally: Books are pleasing to me).

Note:
Le can refer to him, her, it, or you.  Uds. and les can refer to you or them (plural) respectively.  So to clarify, you can add a + personal pronoun at the beginning of the sentence. (Remember that the preposition a must be used whenever a verb is followed by a person):
He likes art - A él le gusta el arte.
Ana has 100 pesos left - A Ana le quedan 100 pesos.
They are excited about traveling - A ellos les entusiasma viajar.

Another sense of the verb gustar is to indicate attraction, or liking, a person or persons.

For example: If you wanted to say "I like her." You could express this by saying: Me gusta ella.

Reflexive Verbs
A verb is reflexive when the subject and the object are the same:

I wash myself.
subject: I
verb: wash
object: myself
Since the subject and object are the same, the verb is reflexive.

I wash the car.
subject: I
verb: wash
object: car
Since the subject and object are different, the verb is not reflexive.

Another example of how a verb can be either reflexive or non-reflexive:
I scratch myself.
subject: I
verb: scratch
object: myself
Since the subject and object are the same, the verb is reflexive.

I scratch the dog.
subject: I
verb: scratch
object: dog
Since the subject and object are different, the verb is not reflexive.

When a verb is reflexive, the infinitive ends in "se."
lavar ......................... to wash (non-reflexive)
lavarse ..................... to wash oneself (reflexive)
rascar ....................... to scratch (non-reflexive)
rascarse .................... to scratch oneself (reflexive)

There is one reflexive verb you have been using since you began studying Spanish.
llamarse - to call, or name, oneself:

¿Cómo se llama usted? ...................................... What do you call yourself?
Me llamo Juan ................................................... I call myself Juan.

NOTE: This is another example of a Spanish idiomatic expression, or "modismo." Which does not have an English correlation. A more "natural" English translation would be "What is your name?" and "My name is Juan."

When you learned to conjugate regular verbs, you needed to learn a set of pronouns
called "subject pronouns."
lavar
yo lavo
tú lavas
él, ella, usted lava
nosotros/as lavamos
vosotros/as laváis
ellos, ellas, ustedes lavan

To learn to conjugate reflexive verbs, you need to learn a different set of pronouns called "reflexive pronouns." These pronouns are positioned before the verb, while the ending "se" is dropped and the verb is conjugated normally.
lavarse
yo me lavo ......................................................... I wash (myself)
tú te lavas .......................................................... you wash (yourself) (informal)
él se lava ............................................................ he washes (himself)
ella se lava ......................................................... she washes (herself)
usted se lava ...................................................... you wash (yourself) (formal)
nosotros nos lavamos ........................................ we wash (ourselves)
nosotras nos lavamos ........................................ we wash (ourselves) (feminine)
vosotros os laváis ............................................... you-all wash (yourselves) (informal)
vosotras os laváis ............................................... you-all wash (yourselves) (informal, feminine)
ustedes se lavan ................................................. you-all wash (yourselves)(formal)
ellos se lavan ..................................................... they wash (themselves)
ellas se lavan ...................................................... they wash (themselves) (feminine)

The reflexive pronouns are not subject pronouns; rather they are object pronouns:
me ........................... (myself)
te ............................. (yourself)
se ............................. (himself, herself, yourself)
nos .......................... (ourselves)
os ............................ (yourselves)
se ............................. (themselves, yourselves)

The purpose of the reflexive object pronouns is to show that the action of the verb
remains with the subject:
Juan se lava la cara ............................................. Juan washes his face. (reflexive)
Juan lava su carro. (non-reflexive) ....................... Juan washes his car.

NOTE:

*When referring to body parts, use the definite article, thus "la cara" not "su cara."
*The use of the plural familiar verb form is not generally accepted in Mexico

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Sources:


e Learn Spanish Language at URL:

http://www.elearnspanishlanguage.com/grammar/verbs/indirectobjectverbs.html

1997–2005 Spanish Learning Resources at URL: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/reflexive1.htm