I often see this “commas matter” thing in Portuguese, because of some shitty wordplay between “vamos comer, gente” (let’s eat, folks!) vs. “vamos comer gente” (let’s eat people).
Interestingly enough the one from the OP doesn’t work:
casei meu irmão“I married my brother” — what the priest would say, or someone sending their brother to marriage
caseicom meu irmão “I married with my brother” — you’re either a Habsburg or really hate the idea of in-laws*
*since I’m babbling about jokes and Portuguese, a common joke about in-laws is that if a cunhado (brother-in-law) was something good, the word wouldn’t start with cu (arse[hole]). Thankfully my opportunities to use this joke are zero, my BIL is a great guy.
I often see this “commas matter” thing in Portuguese, because of some shitty wordplay between “vamos comer, gente” (let’s eat, folks!) vs. “vamos comer gente” (let’s eat people).
Interestingly enough the one from the OP doesn’t work:
*since I’m babbling about jokes and Portuguese, a common joke about in-laws is that if a cunhado (brother-in-law) was something good, the word wouldn’t start with cu (arse[hole]). Thankfully my opportunities to use this joke are zero, my BIL is a great guy.
German completely sidesteps this example by using two different verbs (prefixes are so fucking amazing).
Is it that one is reflexive and the other isn’t?
No, both aren’t reflexive.
Verheiraten can be (sich verheiraten), but not in this context or sentence.