Materials:
- Whiteboard or large paper
- Markers or pens
- List of common Spanish reflexive verbs (e.g., lavarse, levantarse, cepillarse, ducharse, vestirse, acostarse, despertarse)
- Spanish dictionary or online resource (like wordreference.com)
- Optional: Flashcards for reflexive verbs and pronouns
Introduction: Mirror, Mirror! (10 mins)
¡Hola! Today, we're diving into a special type of verb in Spanish called reflexive verbs. Think of them as actions you do *to yourself*. Imagine looking in a mirror – the action reflects back onto you! That's the core idea. These verbs often describe daily routines like washing your face, brushing your teeth, or getting dressed.
What Makes a Verb Reflexive? (15 mins)
Reflexive verbs in Spanish always end in "-se" in their infinitive form (the basic form, like 'to wash'). For example: lavarse (to wash oneself), levantarse (to get oneself up), cepillarse (to brush oneself).
To use them, we need special little words called reflexive pronouns. These show *who* is doing the action *to themselves*. They match the subject (who is doing the action):
- me (myself) - for 'yo' (I)
- te (yourself) - for 'tú' (you, informal)
- se (himself, herself, itself, yourself formal) - for 'él', 'ella', 'usted'
- nos (ourselves) - for 'nosotros/nosotras' (we)
- os (yourselves) - for 'vosotros/vosotras' (you all, Spain)
- se (themselves, yourselves formal) - for 'ellos', 'ellas', 'ustedes'
How to Conjugate Reflexive Verbs (20 mins)
It's a two-step process:
- Choose the right reflexive pronoun based on the subject.
- Conjugate the verb like you normally would in the present tense, dropping the "-se" ending first.
The reflexive pronoun usually goes *before* the conjugated verb.
Let's try lavarse (to wash oneself):
- Yo me lavo (I wash myself)
- Tú te lavas (You wash yourself)
- Él/Ella/Usted se lava (He/She/You wash himself/herself/yourself)
- Nosotros/Nosotras nos lavamos (We wash ourselves)
- Vosotros/Vosotras os laváis (You all wash yourselves)
- Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes se lavan (They/You all wash themselves/yourselves)
Let's practice conjugating levantarse (to get up) together on the whiteboard/paper.
Activity: Mi Rutina Diaria (My Daily Routine) (15 mins)
Let's use reflexive verbs to describe a typical morning routine. Try to complete or create sentences using the verbs we've learned. I'll start:
- Yo ______ _______________ (despertarse) a las siete de la mañana. (Answer: me despierto)
- Después, yo ______ _______________ (levantarse). (Answer: me levanto)
- Luego, yo ______ _______________ (ducharse). (Answer: me ducho)
- Yo ______ _______________ los dientes (cepillarse). (Answer: me cepillo)
- Tú ______ _______________ (vestirse) para la escuela. (Answer: te vistes)
- Nosotros ______ _______________ (acostarse) tarde los fines de semana. (Answer: nos acostamos)
Now, try writing 3-5 sentences about your own daily routine using different reflexive verbs!
Wrap-up & Review (5 mins)
Great job! Today we learned about reflexive verbs – actions we do to ourselves. We saw how to identify them (ending in -se), use reflexive pronouns (me, te, se, nos, os, se), and conjugate them to talk about daily routines. Remember, the pronoun usually comes *before* the verb. ¡Excelente trabajo!