In short

A reflexive verb carries a small extra pronoun that points back to the subject: in chamar-se (“to be called”) you say chamo-me, literally “I call myself”. Portuguese leans on this pattern far more than English does - for getting up, sitting down, feeling a certain way, remembering and forgetting - so the very first sentence you learn, “Como te chamas?”, is already a reflexive verb. The one thing to lock in from day one is where the little pronoun goes: in European Portuguese it normally follows the verb and hooks on with a hyphen (chamo-me), but it jumps in front of the verb after “não” and after question words.

The rule

The reflexive pronoun

A reflexive verb pairs each subject with a matching pronoun. You already conjugate the verb the normal way (steps 6-7); the pronoun is the only new piece. There is one pronoun per person:

• eu -> me, tu -> te
• você / ele / ela -> se
• nós -> nos
• vocês / eles / elas -> se

The form vos belongs to the old subject vós, which modern European Portuguese no longer uses, so in practice you need only me, te, se, nos, se. Notice that se does double duty: it covers the singular você / ele / ela and the whole plural vocês / eles / elas.

What “reflexive” means, and verbs that just come with a pronoun

Some verbs are reflexive in the true sense - the action falls back on the subject. Lavar-se is “to wash oneself”, vestir-se is “to get dressed” (to dress oneself), sentar-se is “to sit (oneself) down”. Compare lavo o carro (“I wash the car”, the action goes outward) with lavo-me (“I wash myself”).

Many other verbs simply come attached to the pronoun with no separate “self” meaning at all - you just have to memorise them with -se. The big ones are lembrar-se de (“to remember”), esquecer-se de (“to forget”), queixar-se de (“to complain about”) and divertir-se (“to have fun”). Treat the -se as part of the word: the dictionary lists chamar-se, lembrar-se de, and that final -se is your signal that a pronoun is compulsory.

Where the pronoun goes: a first look

This is the part English speakers get wrong, so learn the two rules now and the full detail comes in step 30.

Default - enclisis: in a plain affirmative statement the pronoun follows the verb and is joined by a hyphen.

• Chamo-me Miguel. Ela levanta-se cedo. Nós sentamo-nos aqui.

Trigger - proclisis: two everyday things pull the pronoun in front of the verb, with no hyphen. First, negation (não, nunca, nada, ninguém). Second, a question word (como, quando, onde, quem, porque).

• Não me chamo Miguel. Como te chamas? Ele nunca se levanta cedo.

There is one small spelling adjustment: the nós ending -mos drops its final -s before the pronoun nos, so chamamos + nos becomes chamamo-nos and levantamos + nos becomes levantamo-nos.

With ir + infinitive

When a reflexive verb rides on ir + infinitive (step 11), the pronoun attaches to the infinitive at the end: Vou deitar-me cedo (“I am going to bed early”), Vamos sentar-nos ali (“Let’s sit over there”).

Forms & patterns

The reflexive pronoun for each subject:

Full present of chamar-se, in the default (enclitic) order:

Where the pronoun sits, at a glance:

High-frequency reflexive and pronominal verbs to memorise with their pronoun:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Chamo Miguel -> Chamo-me Miguel - chamar-se is reflexive; without the pronoun, “chamo” means “I call (someone else)”.
• Me chamo Ana (as a plain statement) -> Chamo-me Ana - in a simple affirmative the pronoun follows the verb; opening with “me” is the Brazilian order.
• Ele levanta se cedo -> Ele levanta-se cedo - the enclitic pronoun attaches with a hyphen, never as a separate word.
• Ele não levanta-se cedo -> Ele não se levanta cedo - after “não” the pronoun moves in front of the verb.
• Nós levantamos-nos -> Nós levantamo-nos - the nós ending loses its final -s before the pronoun nos.
• Como chamas-te? -> Como te chamas? - a question word pulls the pronoun before the verb.
• Eu lembro o teu nome -> Eu lembro-me do teu nome - lembrar-se needs both the pronoun and the preposition de (de + o = do).

Tips

• Learn each verb with its pronoun and its preposition already attached: chamar-se, levantar-se, lembrar-se de. The trailing -se in the dictionary is your reminder that a pronoun is obligatory.
• Default position is enclisis: pronoun after the verb, joined by a hyphen (deito-me, senta-se). This is the ordinary European Portuguese order for a plain statement.
• Just two everyday triggers flip it to proclisis (pronoun in front, no hyphen): negation (não, nunca) and question words (como, quando, onde). Compare Ele veste-se / Ele não se veste / Onde se veste ele?
• Remember the nós contraction: -mos loses its -s before nos, giving chamamo-nos, levantamo-nos, sentamo-nos.
• A few of these verbs demand a preposition you must not drop: lembrar-se DE, esquecer-se DE, queixar-se DE. Lembro-me de ti, esqueço-me das horas.
• In Brazil: the pronoun usually comes before the verb even in a plain statement (Ele se chama João, Me chamo Ana), and in casual speech the reflexive is often dropped (levantei cedo). European Portuguese keeps enclisis (Ele chama-se João) unless a trigger forces proclisis.