Romanian reflexive verbs

A Romanian reflexive verb uses a short pronoun, or clitic, that connects the action to its subject: Mă spăl în fiecare dimineață. (I wash myself every morning.) The same forms can also be a fixed part of a verb's dictionary form, show a reciprocal action, or create a broader se construction. English myself or themselves is therefore not a mechanical translation guide.

How do you form a reflexive verb?

Conjugate the main verb normally and put the clitic that matches the subject in front of it in an ordinary finite clause. The dictionary form includes the clitic, as in a se spăla (to wash oneself) or a-și aminti (to remember), but the clitic changes with the person.

When the subject is also the direct object, use the accusative clitic: se in Ea se vede în oglindă (She sees herself in the mirror). The dative clitic marks an indirect participant, beneficiary, or possessor: Ea își spală mâinile (She washes her hands). The first- and second-person forms are the same as short personal-object pronouns; third-person se and își do not show gender or singular-versus-plural agreement. See Romanian reflexive pronouns for the case contrast and full forms.

Which kind of reflexive meaning is intended?

Look at the verb, the subject, and the rest of the sentence together. The spelling of the clitic alone does not tell you whether the meaning is self-directed, reciprocal, lexical, middle, passive-like, or impersonal.

• For a true reflexive, compare the active and reflexive patterns: Bunica îl îmbracă pe Andrei. (Grandmother dresses Andrei.) versus Andrei se îmbracă. (Andrei gets dressed.) The active verb takes another person as object; the reflexive action returns to the subject.
• A plural subject can make se reciprocal: Mara și Ioana se ajută una pe alta. (Mara and Ioana help each other.) When the mutual meaning needs to be explicit, add unul pe altul or una pe alta. Se alone does not always settle the interpretation.
• Learn inherently or lexically pronominal verbs with their clitic and any preposition: a se gândi la (to think about), a se teme de (to be afraid of), a-și aminti de (to remember). They do not automatically mean to think oneself, fear oneself, or remember oneself.
• Some a se dictionary entries have a meaning that is not predictable from the active verb: a uita means to forget, while a se uita means to look or watch. Do not remove or add se by translating the English reflexive word alone.

Where does the clitic go?

Keep the clitic next to the verb group, but change its position with the verb form: before a simple finite verb, before the auxiliary in the compound past, after să in the present subjunctive, and after an affirmative imperative with a hyphen.

In the compound past, the reflexive clitic comes before the auxiliary a avea. Compare the accusative and dative combinations for each subject.

The participle does not change for the subject's gender: S-a spălat works for a man or a woman. The feminine singular direct-object clitic o is a different, non-reflexive form and follows the participle: A spălat-o pe Ana. (He or she washed Ana.)

How do you make a reflexive verb negative?

Put nu before the reflexive clitic. This gives Nu mă spăl. (I do not wash myself.) The same order appears in Nu se gândește la examen. (He or she is not thinking about the exam.) In the compound past, the order is nu + clitic + auxiliary + participle: Nu s-a spălat. (He or she did not wash.)

• With the subjunctive, put nu after să and before the clitic: E bine să nu te grăbești. (It is good not to hurry.)
• The affirmative imperative places the clitic after the verb: Îmbracă-te! (Get dressed!) The negative imperative uses nu plus the infinitive-shaped form and puts the clitic before that form: Nu te îmbrăca! (Do not get dressed!)
• With o să, the clitic remains after să: Nu o să se certe. (They will not argue.) The common contracted negative N-o să se certe is also used. See the Romanian compound past, Romanian negation with nu, and the Romanian present subjunctive for the wider tense and mood patterns.

What should you learn as a fixed verb pattern?

Learn the whole verb pattern for a dictionary entry beginning with a se or a-și, including its preposition and meaning. The English translation may be ordinary and non-reflexive: a se întâlni cu cineva means to meet someone, and a se răzgândi means to change one's mind. This is why a Romanian reflexive verb is a vocabulary-and-grammar pattern, not just an English pronoun converted into Romanian.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not make se agree with gender or number: El se spală, ea se spală, ei se spală, and ele se spală all keep se.
• When the subject is the beneficiary or possessor, use a dative reflexive clitic rather than accusative se. Își spală mâinile. (He or she washes his or her hands.) uses a dative clitic; Se spală. (He or she washes himself or herself.) uses an accusative clitic.
• Do not place a normal present-tense clitic after the verb: write Se întâlnesc, not Întâlnesc-se. Post-verbal attachment belongs to forms such as Întâlnește-te!.
• Do not assume every se means a person acting on themselves. In Se vând bilete, se is passive-like. In Se spune că este târziu, it is impersonal. In Ușa se deschide, it can describe a middle or anticausative event.
• Do not remove se from an inherently pronominal verb. When English uses a reflexive word, do not add se unless the Romanian dictionary pattern includes it. Check the Romanian pattern: a se uita means to look, not to look oneself.