Remember our example of Juan looking at himself? We know how to say
| Juan se mira | Juan looks at himself |
| Juan mira a María | Juan looks at María |
| Juan la mira | Juan looks at her |
| nos (nosotros) | os (vosotros) | se (ellos, ellas, ustedes) |
- Notice that in reciprocal constructions that we use only the plural reflexive pronouns. This is because there are always at least two people involved. The conjugation of the verb will help tell you if you are looking at a Reflexive or Reciprocal construct.
If you see the sentence
| Se mira |
you know it is someone looking at him or herself, because the verb is singular; only one person is acting. Therefore, the se is a Reflexive pronoun.
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There are verbs which are naturally reflexive that also need context to emphasize the meaning: for example, despedirse:
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