Reflexive Pronoun 'se' — Romanian Grammar

A reflexive verb is one where the subject acts on itself - "I wash myself", "she gets herself up". Romanian marks these with a reflexive pronoun before the verb, and they are far more common than in English.

The Forms by Person

The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject (it is identical to the object pronouns except in the third person, which is always ):

(myself), (yourself), (himself / herself / itself)
(ourselves), (yourselves), (themselves)

Mă spăl.
I wash (myself).
Te trezești devreme.
You wake up early.
Se odihnește.
He/she is resting.

Many Everyday Verbs Are Reflexive

Plenty of ordinary verbs carry in the dictionary even when English has no "-self": (to wake up), (to feel), (to be called):

Mă simt bine.
I feel good.
Cum te simți?
How do you feel?

Impersonal 'se': 'one / people'

also builds impersonal sentences, matching English "one does" or a passive - there is no specific subject:

Aici se vorbește română.
Romanian is spoken here.
Cum se spune asta?
How does one say this?

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Romanian course

50 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 20. A few of them, with the words “Reflexive Pronoun 'se'” is about in bold:

Cum te simți? Bine sau rău?
How are you feeling? Good or bad?
Lesson 61
Mă simt foarte bine! Nu sunt bolnav. Sunt sănătos.
I feel great! I am not sick. I am healthy.
Lesson 64
Te întorci mâine?
Will you be back tomorrow?
Lesson 258

Comments

Loading comments…