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'Comerse', 'beberse' and the little 'se' that finishes things off

Spanish speakers often say me comí la pizza instead of just comí la pizza. The extra me is not reflexive in the usual sense. Nobody is eating themselves. It adds a sense of completion: the pizza was eaten from start to finish. English does something similar with little words like up, down and off: eat up, drink down, polish off. Spanish uses a pronoun instead: comerse, beberse, tomarse, fumarse.

English speakers trip over this in two ways. First, they rarely use it, so their Spanish sounds a bit flat. Second, once they discover it, they add the pronoun everywhere, including in sentences where Spanish does not allow it. The key is the object: this se only works when there is a specific, limited thing being finished.

Word list
aprenderA1 to learn aprenderse la canción = learn the whole song beberA1 to drink beberse el vaso = drink down the glass comerA1 to eat comerse la pizza = eat up estudiarA1 to study estudiarse el temario = study the whole syllabus leerA1 to read leerse un libro = read a book from cover to cover saberA1 to know saberse la lección = know it by heart tomarA1 to drink tómate el café = drink your coffee up verA1 to watch verse la película entera = watch the whole film acabarA2 to end acabarse la sopa = finish off the soup fumarA2 to smoke fumarse un cigarro = smoke a whole cigarette gastarA2 to spend gastarse todo el dinero = spend all the money terminarA2 to end termínate la leche = finish up your milk tomar el desayunoA2 to have breakfast tómate el desayuno = eat up your breakfast aprender de memoriaB2 to memorize aprenderse el poema de memoria = learn the whole poem by heart tragarB2 to swallow tragarse la pastilla = swallow a lie devorarC1 to devour devorarse el libro = devour the whole book
How it works

Take a verb that uses something up, such as eating, drinking or reading. Add the pronoun that matches the subject (me, te, se, nos, os, se) and give it a definite, countable object: la pizza, una manzana, dos cafés, el libro. The pronoun presents the action as a complete event with a clear end point.

Compare the plain verb, which simply describes the activity, with the version with the pronoun, which describes finishing a particular portion:

Anoche comí pizza con mis amigos.
(Last night I ate pizza with my friends.)
Anoche me comí la pizza entera.
(Last night I ate up the whole pizza.)

Note that the pronoun does not always mean that everything available was eaten. Se comió una manzana just means he ate one apple, the whole apple. The object sets the limit, and the se says that limit was reached. For this reason the pronoun sounds wrong with open-ended nouns without an article: you say como fruta (I eat fruit), not me como fruta.

The words
Eating and drinking

Comer and beber are the classic cases. Tomar works the same way and is very common for drinks, food and medicine, especially in commands.

El niño se comió una manzana antes de cenar.
(The boy ate an apple before dinner.)
Tenía tanta sed que me bebí el vaso de agua en diez segundos.
(I was so thirsty that I drank down the glass of water in ten seconds.)
Tómate el café, que se enfría.
(Drink your coffee, it's getting cold.)
Swallowing and smoking

Tragar and fumar also describe using something up. Tragarse is common with pills and, figuratively, with lies or stories someone believed.

Mi perro se tragó la pastilla sin masticarla.
(My dog swallowed the pill without chewing it.)
Mi abuelo se fumaba un puro cada domingo.
(My grandfather used to smoke a cigar every Sunday.)
Reading and spending

The same idea extends to things you get through or use up. Leerse un libro means reading it from cover to cover. Gastarse el dinero means spending a specific amount.

Este verano me leí tres novelas.
(This summer I read three novels.)
Se gastó todo el sueldo en una semana.
(She spent her whole salary in a week.)
Learning and knowing

With aprender and saber, the thing being finished is a piece of content: a song, a lesson, a list. Aprenderse means learning it completely. Saberse means knowing it all by heart.

Por fin me aprendí la canción.
(I finally learned the song all the way through.)
¿Te sabes todas las capitales de Europa?
(Do you know all the capitals of Europe?)
Watch out
No specific object, no pronoun

Bebo agua and leo mucho are correct. Me bebo agua and me leo mucho are not, because nothing specific is being finished.

The object can be a pronoun

When you replace the object, both pronouns stay, and todo often adds extra emphasis.

¿La tarta? Me la comí toda.
(The cake? I ate it all up.)
Saber is limited

Use saberse only for content you can recite, such as a lesson, a list or a text. Do not use it with saber que (to know that) or saber nadar (to know how to swim).

It is optional, not wrong to omit

Comí la pizza is fine. The pronoun simply adds the flavour of finishing it off, and native speakers use it constantly in everyday speech.

Summary

Add the matching pronoun (me, te, se...) to a verb of eating, drinking or using up when you talk about finishing a specific, limited amount: me comí la pizza, se bebió el vaso, me leí el libro, te sabes la lección. If the object is an open-ended noun with no article, like pizza or agua on their own, leave the pronoun out.