Question 1.
Rafael y Lola se vieron
en la clase pero no se hablaron.
Question 2.
Anoche Julia y Francisco se encontraron
en el cine a las siete.
Question 3.
Cuando mi prima y yo nos saludamos, siempre nos abrazamos.
Question 4.
Elena y yo siempre nos ayudamos
con la tarea.
Question 5.
Leonor y David se escriben por correo electrónico.
Explanation:
Reciprocal verbs in Spanish are used to point out actions performed by two or more persons at the same time, and directed towards the other. We will understand them best if we translate them into English using each other or one another. Also they must always be used in their pronominal form using the right reflexive pronouns.
1. Rafael y Lola se vieron en la clase pero no se hablaron.
The verb used here is ver in the Spanish past tense, the préterito. The subject of the sentence is plural, Rafael y Lola, so we have to use the third person plural form which is se.
The translation would be: Rafael and Lola saw each other in class but didn't speak.
This use of the verb ver indicates that both persons got to see and to be seen.
2. Anoche Julia y Francisco se encontraron en el cine a las siete.
Encontrar means to meet in the this sentence. The verb normally means to find, and also to bump into someone. But in this case, the reflexive pronoun se indicates that both persons participated in finding one another, as in they met.
This time we would not use each other in the English version as it would be redundant.
Last night Julia and Francisco met at the theater at 7 o'clock.
3. Cuando mi prima y yo nos saludamos, siempre nos abrazamos.
The word abrazar means to kiss. We use the reflexive pronoun so that we understand that both of the actors kiss and are kissed. In this case again we would not translate the sentence using each other in English but it helps verify the understanding.
When my cousin and I say hello, we always kiss.
4. Elena y yo siempre nos ayudamos con la tarea.
This use of the verb ayudar illustrates perfectly the idea of Spanish reciprocal verbs. Both persons perform the action, and it is directed from one to the other reciprocally. Both of them give and receive help.
Elena and I always help each other.
5. Leonor y David se escriben por correo electrónico.
The reflexive form of the verb escribir here illustrates that the actors exchange messages: they both write to one another. The reflexive pronoun indicates that the actors are both the subject and the (indirect) object of the verb.
Leonor y David message each other through e-mail.
