4.1. Reflexive verbs in the present tense

A reflexive verb normally indicates an action that one does to oneself. For example, mi sveglio means “I wake (myself) up.” This definition is not always obvious in English, so sometimes you will just have to memorize a certain Italian verb as a reflexive verb.

The most important thing about learning and using reflexive verbs is the use of the reflexive pronoun. You will always use a reflexive pronoun with a reflexive verb. Here they are:

Following are complete charts for reflexive verbs across all three types of verbs:

As you see above, the reflexive pronouns (mi, ti, si, ci, vi, si) usually come before a conjugated reflexive verb. There are two major exceptions to this:

• This is not the case when you have a reflexive verb in the infinitive form (usually preceded by a helper verb like dovere, potere, volere). Examples are below in chart format.

• It is also not the case when you have the informal imperative, e.g., vestiti! = get dressed!; alzatevi! = get up! As you can see with these two examples, the reflexive pronoun is attached to the end of an informal imperative.

As mentioned in the first bullet point above, when you have a reflexive verb in the infinitive form, the reflexive pronoun will either be attached to the end of the verb (minus the final –e) or it will go in front of the helper verb: