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82, A SPANISH REFERENCE GRAMMAR

person or number: me lavo las manos,

I wash my (to me the) hands. See 269, 282. 381.

  1. An intransitive verb may be used reflexively, the person who is usually the subject of the equivalent English verb then becoming the indirect object. This is the impersonal reflexive. The verb is always in the 3rd person singular only. There is no noun subject expressed or understood. The force of the expression is usually active. Se me figura,

I imagine; se les an.toja it conmigo, they have a notion to go with me; se nos ocurri6 decirlo, it occurred to us to say so. 382.

  1. A transitive verb may also be used as impersonal reflexive in the same way as shown in 382. The force of such an expression is passive, and the passive voice may be substituted: se le ama a Juan = Juan es amado, 7ohn is loved; se nos admira = somos admirados, we are admired. 383.

Note that Juan se ama means 7ohn loves himself.

  1. The agent of the action can not be expressed in connection with the construction explained in 383. If it is desired to express the agent when the subject is a person the passive must be used,

accompanied by por or de ± the agent: Juan es amado de todos, 7ohn is loved by all; fui atacado por un I was attacked by a robber. See 405. 384.

  1. In both 382 and 383, if the direct object is a female person or persons la or las must be used, not le or les (see 266): se la occurre, it occurs to her; se las ama, they are loved. 385.

  2. In exhortations the reflexive pronoun nos postfixed to the verb causes the disappearance of the terminal -s of the verb: sentêmonos, let us sit down. 386.

  3. In the imperative plural of reflexive verbs terminal -d disappears when os is postfixed: sentaos, be seated. But, idos, go away, from irse. 387.

(b) When the subject in English is a thing. The subject is third person only. 388.

  1. A transitive (but not an intransitive) verb may be used in the personal reflexive, singular or plural, when the subject is a thing. This is the use of the personal reflex for the passive: la hierba se corta en el verano, grass is cut in the summer. 389.

  2. If it is desired to express the agent of the action in such a case it is best to use the real passive: la hierba es cortada por los campesinos, the grass is cut by the

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