Reflexive verbs for daily routine and body movements
When you describe your morning routine or how you move your body, English often uses simple verbs that are used without an object. You get up, you shave, you get dressed, and you sit down. In Portuguese, these actions almost always require a reflexive pronoun. You are literally saying that you get yourself up, you shave yourself, and you sit yourself down.
This applies to everyday verbs like levantar-se, vestir-se, and sentar-se. The reflexive pronoun shows that the subject is both performing and receiving the action. If you drop the pronoun, Portuguese speakers will usually assume you are performing the action on someone or something else.
Many verbs related to hygiene and getting ready for the day behave this way. For example, vestir-se means to get dressed, while despir-se means to get undressed. If you need to change your clothes, you can use trocar-se or mudar-se.
Other grooming habits follow the exact same pattern. You have banhar-se for taking a bath, pentear-se for combing your hair, and barbear-se for shaving. Depending on which side of the Atlantic you are on, you will use maquiar-se or maquilhar-se to put on makeup. Words like lavar-se also belong to this group.
The same logic applies when you change your physical position. In English, you just sit or stand. In Portuguese, you act upon your own body. You use sentar-se to sit down and levantar-se to get up or stand up.
At the end of the day, you use deitar-se to lie down or go to bed. If you need to drop to your knees, you use ajoelhar-se. Without the reflexive pronoun, these verbs change their meaning entirely. For example, dropping the pronoun from deitar-se gives you the verb for laying an object down or putting a child to bed. Words like acordar-se follow similar logic, though you will also hear people use the non-reflexive version to simply mean waking up.
When you prepare for an event or a workout, you also reflect the action back onto yourself. Verbs like preparar-se, arrumar-se, and aprontar-se all mean to get yourself ready.
For physical activities, you use exercitar-se to work out. Before you start, you might need to warm up using aquecer-se, and then stretch your muscles with alongar-se. After a long sleep, you might use espreguiçar-se to stretch your arms and legs.
As a quick note for learners of Brazilian Portuguese: spoken language in Brazil often drops the reflexive pronoun in informal contexts. However, the standard written rule always requires the pronoun to show that you are acting on yourself.
When a verb describes a personal care routine, getting dressed, or a movement of your own body, expect to use a reflexive pronoun in Portuguese. Without it, the verb usually implies that you are performing the action on someone or something else.