Reflexive verbs in Spanish?

Question

I can never remember when to use the se, and what it means

here are some examples

(I wake up at seven)
Me despierto a las siets
...but what does
Despiertame (spelling??) a las siete mean?

I know what placing the me (se etc.) before and after the verb means something completely different, but what does it mean?

Answer 1

Despiértame a las siete,
This means you are asking someone to wake you up.
Someone other than you does the action.
Llámame esta tarde (call me this afternoon)
Llamo esta tarde (I call this afternoon - here you do the action)

Answer 2

Despiertame means that someone is waking you up. For example, "Ella despiertame," is another way of saying, "Ella me despierta," which means "She wakes me up." The pronoun has to agree with the conjugation of the verb itself (yo despierto, tu despiertas, etc.) and the "me, te, se, etc.) part has to go with the person the action is being done to. In this case, she (ella) is waking you up, so since you're talking about yourself, you have to use "me." If you were saying, "She wakes her up," it would be "Ella se despierta," or "Ella despiertase la nina," or something like that. I hope I've explained it clearly- it's a rather confusing type of verb.

Answer 3

Reflexive verbs are for "self" and reciprocal (each other).
Despertar=to wake up
Me despierto=I wake myself up OR I wake up
Despiértame=Wake me up (Despiérta=wake, me=me)
Reflexive verbs are also often used in place of the passive voice. La puerta se abre=The door is opened.