Is there such thing as reflexive verbs in Chinese?

EmmaLouise1
 October 19, 2009, 11:10 AM posted in General Discussion

Like there are in European languages, in Spanish we've learnt at school things me lavo (I wash myself) or me llamo (I call myself) which are different from verbs like veo (I see) or hablo (I speak) I know you're not all going to know Spanish but do you kind of see what I mean? Cos I don't see the difference in Chinese :S Like in Chinese why isn't the verb "to be called" (sorry, can't remember the character) reflexive? Or is it? I really don't know :S Could someone just give me brief explanation on Chinese Reflexive verbs please? Or if there isn't such a thing, a small explanation of why there isn't? Thank you! I'm still a bit of a confused Newbie :S

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EmmaLouise1
 October 20, 2009, 09:04 AM

Could someone help me please? :) I'm still a bit confused >.< 

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changye
 October 20, 2009, 02:57 PM

Hi doodlemonster

I don't think it's recommendable to try to understand Chinese grammar from a standpoint of European languages. With regard to grammar (and characters), Chinese is very different from European languages.

One of the reasons I love Mandarin is that it doesn't have complicated grammar rules such as inflections, genders, and reflexive verbs, hehe. That said, Chinese also has a reflexive, namely "自己" (self).

Below is a typical reflexive usage of "自己".

他把自己看成一个英雄。
He considers himself a hero.