Reflexive Verbs in Catalan

In Brief

Catalan reflexive verbs use a weak pronoun that matches the subject: em, et, es, ens, us, es. Put it before a conjugated verb—Em llevo a les set (“I get up at seven”)—but attach it to an infinitive: Vull llevar-me d'hora (“I want to get up early”). Learn the pronoun together with the verb, because many everyday Catalan verbs are pronominal even when English does not use “myself” or “yourself.”

Overview

A reflexive construction presents an action as returning to the person who performs it: La Marta es renta means “Marta washes herself.” The subject (the person or thing that performs the action) and the object (the person or thing affected by it) refer to the same person. Catalan shows this relationship with an unstressed, or weak, pronoun: em, et, es, ens or us.

This pattern is especially important for daily routines, personal care and states: llevar-se (“to get up”), dutxar-se (“to shower”), vestir-se (“to get dressed”) and sentir-se (“to feel”). It is introduced around A2, but learners meet common forms much earlier in expressions such as Em dic... (“My name is...”) and Com et trobes? (“How do you feel?”).

English is not a reliable guide to whether Catalan needs a reflexive pronoun. English says “I get up” and “we had fun,” without myself or ourselves; Catalan says em llevo and ens divertim. Conversely, not every English use of “myself” requires a reflexive verb. The safest habit is to learn a pronominal verb—the dictionary form ending in -se—as one complete unit.

How It Works

The six subject-matching pronouns

The verb changes for person and number, and the reflexive pronoun changes with it. Person here simply means whether the subject is “I,” “you,” “he/she,” and so on.

Subject	Reflexive pronoun	With rentar-se	English
jo	em	em rento	I wash (myself)
tu	et	et rentes	you wash (yourself)
ell / ella / vostè	es	es renta	he/she washes; you wash (formal)
nosaltres	ens	ens rentem	we wash (ourselves)
vosaltres	us	us renteu	you all wash (yourselves)
ells / elles / vostès	es	es renten	they wash; you all wash (formal)

Catalan often omits the subject pronoun because the verb ending already identifies the subject. Em rento is therefore more natural as a neutral statement than Jo em rento, although jo can be included for contrast: Jo em dutxo al matí, però ella es dutxa al vespre (“I shower in the morning, but she showers in the evening”).

The pronoun must still be present. The subject pronoun is optional; the reflexive pronoun is not:

• Em llevo d'hora. — “I get up early.”
• Jo em llevo d'hora. — “I get up early.” The jo adds contrast or emphasis.
• Llevo d'hora. — not the reflexive construction; with this verb, it does not express the intended routine.

Elision before a vowel

Before a verb beginning with a vowel or silent h, em, et and es shorten to m', t' and s'. The apostrophe replaces the missing vowel.

Full form	Elided form	Example	English
em	m'	m'aixeco	I get up
et	t'	t'has rentat	you have washed
es	s'	s'ha adormit	he/she has fallen asleep
ens	unchanged	ens aixequem	we get up
us	unchanged	us heu vestit	you all have got dressed

The choice between em and m', for example, depends on the following sound, not on the meaning: em llevo but m'aixeco.

Position with one conjugated verb

A conjugated verb is a verb form marked for a subject and tense, such as rento, rentaràs or va rentar. With a normal single conjugated form, place the reflexive pronoun immediately before the verb:

• Et vesteixes ràpid. — “You get dressed quickly.”
• No ens queixem. — “We are not complaining.”
• Demà es llevaran abans. — “Tomorrow they will get up earlier.”

Negation does not separate the pronoun from the verb: the order is no + reflexive pronoun + verb. A question keeps the same pronoun–verb order: Com et trobes?

In a compound tense, the pronoun comes before the auxiliary—the helping verb used to build the tense:

• M'he dutxat. — “I have showered.”
• S'havien equivocat. — “They had made a mistake.”

The past participle—the form such as rentat or vestit used after haver—does not normally change merely because the verb is reflexive: ella s'ha rentat, elles s'han rentat.

Position with an infinitive

An infinitive is the dictionary form, such as rentar, “to wash.” When the reflexive pronoun belongs directly to an infinitive, attach it to the end with a hyphen or apostrophe according to Catalan spelling:

Person	Infinitive form
me	rentar-me
you (singular)	rentar-te
himself/herself/yourself formal	rentar-se
ourselves	rentar-nos
yourselves	rentar-vos
themselves/yourselves formal	rentar-se

After a verb such as voler (“to want”), poder (“can”) or haver de (“to have to”), two placements are possible. Keep the pronoun next to the verb phrase it belongs to:

• Em vull dutxar or Vull dutxar-me. — “I want to shower.”
• Us heu de preparar or Heu de preparar-vos. — “You all have to get ready.”

For a beginner, both patterns are useful. Do not use the pronoun twice: choose em vull dutxar or vull dutxar-me, not both together.

Conjugate the verb normally

The -se ending does not create a separate conjugation. Remove it to identify the infinitive, conjugate that verb as usual, and add the matching pronoun.

For the regular -ar verb rentar-se:

Person	Present form
jo	em rento
tu	et rentes
ell / ella / vostè	es renta
nosaltres	ens rentem
vosaltres	us renteu
ells / elles / vostès	es renten

The same pronoun pattern combines with irregular or stem-changing verbs. With sentir-se (“to feel”), for example: em sento, et sents, se sent, ens sentim, us sentiu, se senten. The pronouns are regular even though the verb forms are not all built from an unchanged stem.

Reflexive, reciprocal and pronominal meanings

The ending -se covers several closely related patterns:

1. Truly reflexive: the subject acts on itself. El nen es pentina — “The child combs his hair / combs himself.”
2. Reciprocal: two or more people act on one another. Ens abracem — “We hug each other.” Context supplies the “each other” meaning.
3. Lexically pronominal: the pronoun is part of the verb as it is normally learned, but a literal “self” translation is misleading. S'adona de l'error means “He/she notices the mistake,” not “notices himself/herself.”

At A2, you do not need to classify every example. What matters in speaking is recognising that the pronoun belongs with the verb and matching it to the subject.

Examples in Context

Catalan	English	Note
Em llevo a les set.	I get up at seven.	Daily routine; first person singular
Es renta les mans abans de dinar.	He/she washes his/her hands before lunch.	Body part uses the definite article
Ens divertim molt quan sortim junts.	We have a lot of fun when we go out together.	English does not normally say “enjoy ourselves” here
Com et trobes avui?	How do you feel today?	Common question about health or general condition
La Júlia es pentina davant del mirall.	Júlia combs her hair in front of the mirror.	Truly reflexive action
No m'he afaitat aquest matí.	I did not shave this morning.	Pronoun before the auxiliary he
Us vesteixeu abans d'esmorzar?	Do you all get dressed before breakfast?	Informal plural us
Els nens s'adormen de seguida.	The children fall asleep straight away.	adormir-se has an elided pronoun
Vull dutxar-me abans de sortir.	I want to shower before going out.	Pronoun attached to the infinitive
Ens hem conegut avui.	We met each other today.	Reciprocal reading in context
Sempre et queixes del trànsit.	You are always complaining about the traffic.	queixar-se de is learned with both -se and de
S'han equivocat de porta.	They have gone to the wrong door.	Literally, they “mistook the door”; fixed pronominal use
Quan ens veiem, ens abracem.	When we see each other, we hug.	Both forms have reciprocal meaning
Heu de preparar-vos per marxar.	You all have to get ready to leave.	Pronoun attached to the infinitive

Common Mistakes

Dropping the reflexive pronoun because English has none

• Wrong: Llevo a les set.
• Right: Em llevo a les set.
• Why: English “get up” has no reflexive word, but Catalan llevar-se requires its pronoun. Learn llevar-se, not just llevar.

Using one pronoun for every subject

• Wrong: Nosaltres es divertim molt.
• Right: Nosaltres ens divertim molt.
• Why: The pronoun agrees with the subject: ens goes with nosaltres. Third-person es goes with ell, ella, vostè, ells, elles and vostès.

Adding a possessive before a body part

• Awkward in the neutral meaning: Es renta les seves mans.
• Right: Es renta les mans.
• Why: When the reflexive pronoun already identifies whose body part is involved, Catalan normally uses the definite article (el, la, els, les), where English uses “my,” “your,” “his” or “her.” A possessive is possible only when contrast or ownership genuinely needs emphasis.

Putting a free pronoun after an infinitive

• Wrong: Vull rentar em.
• Right: Vull rentar-me.
• Also right: Em vull rentar.
• Why: An enclitic pronoun—a pronoun attached after a verb—is joined to the infinitive according to Catalan spelling. It is not written as a separate word.

Doubling the pronoun in a verb phrase

• Wrong: Em vull dutxar-me.
• Right: Em vull dutxar or Vull dutxar-me.
• Why: These are two alternative positions for the same pronoun, not two pronouns used together.

Assuming every -se verb means “oneself”

• Misleading translation: M'adono del problema = “I notice myself of the problem.”
• Right: M'adono del problema. = “I notice / realise the problem.”
• Why: Some verbs are pronominal vocabulary items. Their meaning cannot be calculated by adding “oneself” to the non-pronominal verb.

Usage Notes

Learn the preposition too

Some pronominal verbs require a particular preposition before what follows. Treat that preposition as part of the pattern:

• adonar-se de — to notice, realise
• queixar-se de — to complain about
• recordar-se de — to remember
• interessar-se per — to be interested in

For example, say No em recordo del seu nom (“I don't remember his/her name”). The reflexive pronoun and the preposition perform different jobs; one cannot replace the other.

Formal address still uses third person

The polite singular vostè takes es and a third-person singular verb: Vostè es troba bé? (“Are you feeling well?”). Polite plural vostès likewise takes es with a third-person plural verb: Vostès es poden esperar aquí (“You can wait here”). In informal plural speech, vosaltres takes us: Us podeu esperar aquí.

Similar-looking verbs may change meaning

A verb with and without the pronoun can express different relationships or meanings:

• rentar el cotxe — to wash the car; rentar-se — to wash oneself
• dormir — to sleep; adormir-se — to fall asleep
• anar — to go; anar-se'n — to leave, go away

Do not assume that adding -se always produces a predictable English pair. Check the whole entry and its examples when learning a new verb.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of the following at A2, but these patterns explain forms you will soon encounter.

With an affirmative command, the pronoun is attached after the verb: Renta't les mans! (“Wash your hands!”), Aixequeu-vos! (“Get up!”, plural). With a negative command, it comes before the verb: No et moguis! (“Don't move!”), No us preocupeu! (“Don't worry!”, plural). The negative forms use the subjunctive (a verb form used here for negative commands), a topic normally studied later.

A gerund—the -ant, -ent or -int form that can express an action in progress—may also carry an attached pronoun: Està vestint-se. With a progressive construction, placing it before the conjugated verb is also common: S'està vestint (“He/she is getting dressed”). As with infinitives, do not repeat it in both positions.

Third-person es also appears in constructions that are not personally reflexive. Es venen pisos means “Apartments are for sale” or literally “Apartments are sold,” and Aquí es parla català means “Catalan is spoken here.” These are passive or impersonal uses: the sentence does not describe apartments selling themselves or a person speaking to himself. The identical form makes context important, but the verb's agreement often helps: es ven un pis versus es venen pisos.

Finally, Catalan can combine a reflexive pronoun with other weak pronouns: se'n va (“he/she leaves”), me'n recordo (“I remember it”) and se les renta (“he/she washes them,” for example the hands when already mentioned). Pronoun order, apostrophes and contractions form a larger system studied under combined weak pronouns. At this stage, learn frequent combinations as chunks rather than trying to build every sequence from memory.

Practice Tips

1. Build a six-person routine. Choose one verb such as llevar-se and say all six present forms aloud: em llevo, et lleves, es lleva, ens llevem, us lleveu, es lleven. Then repeat with vestir-se or sentir-se so that you practise the pronouns separately from one conjugation pattern.
2. Rewrite a short day. Write five sentences about your routine, then change the subject from “I” to “we” and “they.” Check both parts each time: em dutxo → ens dutxem → es dutxen.
3. Record verbs as complete chunks. In your vocabulary notes, write queixar-se de or adonar-se de, not only queixar or adonar. Include one first-person example, because em/m' makes the required pronoun easy to remember.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Weak Pronouns — introduces the unstressed pronouns and their position around verbs.