Question on reflexive verb

This comes from an excersize in the beginner's book. The verb cepillarse (to brush oneself) is reflexive, but in the following usage, it is claimed that it's use here is not: "Mi mama(^) siempre me cepilla el pelo". At first I translated this as "My mother always has me brush the hair" The hair being my hair. But the use of "has" may not be warranted here. If I had the proper interpreation above, I see this as reflexive since the person is brushing thier own hair. Please help here. Thanks, Henk

Hola Henk. You may find the following definition of a reflexive verb helpful; it comes from the book _Spanish Verb Tenses_ by Dorothy Devney Richmond and is part of the excellent Practice Makes Perfect series: "A verb is reflexive when the subject (the performer of the action) and the object (the receiver of the action) are the same." In the example you gave, the subject is "mi mamá" and the object is "el pelo" (the speaker's hair, not the mother's hair). Thus, the subject and the object are not the same. The sentence should be translated as "My mother always brushes my hair."

Hi, I would agree with what you had to say, except I thought the translation of the sentence I gave was, My mother always has me brush my hair. Therefore, I am doing the brushing on myself, hence a reflexive verb. Of course, I am confused as to how to translate "me cepilla". If it is reflexive, would it have been "me cepillo". Thank you again! Henk

Hi, Henk. Your translation is not correct. The sentence does NOT mean "My mother always has me brush my hair." It means "My mother always brushes my hair." That's why the verb is in the third person: cepilla -- she brushes. If she were brushing her own hair, the sentence would read "Mi mamá siempre se cepilla el pelo," and it would be reflexive. It would also be reflexive if it read "Siempre me cepillo el pelo" (I always brush my hair). But "Mi mamá siempre me cepilla el pelo" is NOT reflexive, since she is not brushing her own hair.

Hi, again. It occurs to me that one reason you are confused about reflexive verbs may be that you are not familiar with the way one talks about certain actions in Spanish. In English, we say I brush _my_ hair, we take off _our _clothes, she put on _her_ jacket, but in Spanish one says these things differently: Me cepillo _el_ pelo -- I brush my hair Nos quitamos _la_ ropa -- We take off our clothes Se puso _la_ chaqueta -- She put on her jacket In these cases, Spanish uses the definite article (el, la) where English would use the possessive adjective (my, her, our, etc.).

Thank you for your responses! They are helpful and yes, I see how the use of the possessive pronouns in English is throwing me off.