Reflexive Pronouns

 Unlike English, German does not use a suffix to form a reflexive (myself, yourself, himself, etc.). Instead, individual reflexive pronouns are used. But German has two forms of reflexive pronouns: accusative and dative.

Accusative reflexive pronouns

The accusative reflexive pronouns are so named because they occur where the accusative case is required in the sentence. The accusative case is used:

1.  to identify direct objects

2. following accusative prepositions

3. following accusative-dative prepositions

  The accusative reflexive pronoun is used when that pronoun and the subject of the sentence are the same person. A personal pronoun is used when that pronoun and the subject of the sentence are different persons. For example:

same person	I hated myself for doing that.
different person	I hated her for doing that.

German works similarly:

same person	Ich frage mich warum.	I ask myself why.
different person	Ich frage sie warum.	I ask her why.

  Let’s look at all the accusative reflexive pronouns and compare them with their personal-pronoun counterparts.

nominative	accusative personal	accusative reflexive
ich	mich	mich	myself
du	dich	dich	yourself
er	ihn	sich	himself
sie	sie	Sich	herself
es	es	Sich	itself
wir	uns	uns	ourselves
ihr	euch	euch	yourselves
Sie	Sie	sich	yourself, yourselves
sie	sie	sich	themselves

  If the subject of a sentence is wer or was, their accusative reflexive pronoun will be sich. This is also true of all singular or plural nouns.

In sentences, the reflexive pronouns occur after the conjugated verb or after a preposition. For example:

direct object	Ärgere dich nicht!	Don’t get angry.
accusative preposition	Sie kaufte etwas für sich.	She bought something for herself.
accusative-dative preposition	Ich denke nur an mich selbst.	I only think about myself.

Dative reflexive pronouns

  Dative reflexive pronouns function like the accusative reflexive pronouns, but they are used where the dative case is required:

1. to identify indirect objects

2. to identify objects of dative verbs

3. following dative prepositions

4. following accusative-dative prepositions

  The dative reflexive pronoun is used when that pronoun and the subject of the sentence are the same person. A personal pronoun is used when that pronoun and the subject of the sentence are different persons. For example:

same person	Ich kaufte mir einen neuen Gürtel.	I bought myself a new belt.
different person	Ich kaufte ihm einen neuen Gürtel.	I bought him a new belt.

As you can see from the preceding example, the dative reflexive pronoun mir happens to be the same as the dative personal pronoun mir. This occurs with other pronouns as well. Let’s look at all the dative reflexive pronouns and compare them with their personal-pronoun counterparts.

nominative	dative personal	dative reflexive
ich	mir	mir	myself
du	dir	dir	yourself
er	ihm	sich	himself
sie	ihr	sich	herself
es	ihm	sich	itself
wir	uns	uns	ourselves
ihr	euch	euch	yourselves
Sie	Ihnen	sich	yourself, yourselves
sie	ihnen	sich	themselves

  If the subject of a sentence is wer or was, the dative reflexive pronoun will be sich. This is also true of all singular or plural nouns. In sentences, the reflexive pronouns occur after the conjugated verb or after a preposition. For example:

indirect object	Kauft ihr euch einen neuen Wagen?	Are you buying yourselves a new car?
dative verb	Sie trauen sich diese Arbeit zu.	They entrust themselves with this job.
dative preposition	Ich habe kein Geld bei mir.	I don’t have any money on me.
accusative-dative	Ich verberge das Geschenk	I hide the gift behind me.
preposition	hinter mir.
(dative case)

Reflexive verbs

  German reflexive verbs are always used with reflexive pronouns to achieve their full meaning. It’s like the English verb enjoy oneself. Without the reflexive pronoun or a direct object, the verb makes no sense. For example:

If someone asks, “Did you have fun at the party?”

you cannot reply, “Yes, I really enjoyed.”

To achieve the complete meaning of the verb, the reflexive must be added:

“Yes, I really enjoyed myself.”

This occurs with many German verbs. They are used together with reflexive pronouns to achieve their full meaning. Here are a few commonly used reflexive verbs:

sich befinden                       be located

sich benehmen                    behave, conduct oneself

sich erholen                         recover

sich erinnern                       remember

sich erkälten                        catch cold

sich fragen                           wonder (ask oneself)

sich interessieren               be interested (interest oneself)

sich irren                              be mistaken

sich unterhalten                 converse