English / Italiano

Reflexive verbs

A reflexive verb is used when the subject does something to itself. Italian marks this with a reflexive pronoun. In the passato prossimo, reflexive verbs use essere.

The pronoun follows the subject

	Present	Past	English
io	mi lavo	mi sono lavato/a	I wash, I washed
tu	ti lavi	ti sei lavato/a	you wash, you washed
lui / lei	si lava	si è lavato/a	he, she washes, washed
noi	ci laviamo	ci siamo lavati/e	we wash, we washed
voi	vi lavate	vi siete lavati/e	you all wash, washed
loro	si lavano	si sono lavati/e	they wash, they washed

The same verb can be used both ways. In Lavo la macchina the object is something other than the subject. In Mi lavo the object is the subject itself.
In the passato prossimo reflexive verbs take essere, and the participle agrees with the subject: Giulia si è svegliata.
The infinitive is listed with -si on the end: lavarsi, svegliarsi, alzarsi.

Reflexive in Italian, plain in English

English gives no hint that these need a pronoun, so they have to be learned as reflexive.