Reflexive Pronouns For Intermediate learners

What is a Reflexive Pronoun?

A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers back to the subject of a sentence and demonstrates that the subject is doing an action to itself. For instance, in the sentence "You annoy yourself.", "yourself" is the reflexive pronoun. German reflexive pronouns are used with reflexive verbs, and they don't have a nominative case. They are only used in accusative and dative cases.

What is a Reflexive Verb?

A reflexive verb is a verb in which the subject and object refer to the exact same thing or person. There are some verbs that are always reflexive, and they won't make sense without the presence of reflexive pronouns.

Example

Ich wasche mich jeden Morgen.

I wash myself every morning.

Sie erinnert sich an den Urlaub.

She remembers the vacation.

Wir freuen uns auf das Wochenende.

We are looking forward to the weekend.

The German Reflexive Pronouns

The table below shows the Reflexive Pronouns in German:

	Acc	Dat
ich	mich	mir
du	dich	dir
er/sie/es	sich	sich
wir	uns	uns
ihr	euch	euch
sie	sich	sich
Sie	sich	sich

Note!

These pronouns almost always follow the conjugated verbs.

Example

Ich wasche mich.

I wash myself.

Accusative

Er hat sich verletzt.

He hurt himself.

Accusative

Ich kaufe mir ein Buch.

I buy myself a book.

Dative

Wir gönnen uns eine Pause.

We allow ourselves a break.

Dative

Accusative case vs. Dative case

Let's take a look at their role in a sentence. Both of these cases are known to be the object of a sentence. The accusative is the direct object, which means it's the direct receiver of the action of the verb.

Example

Ich schreibe den Brief.

I write the letter.

The letter: direct object (accusative)

Dative, however, is known to be the indirect object. It is usually the person or a thing that gets something. You can often find the indirect object by asking "to whom" or "for whom"?

Example

Sie gibt das Buch dem Kind.

She gives the book to the child.

Give to whom? ➡ to "the child": indirect object (dative)

Der Mann gibt dem Kind das Buch.

The man gives the child the book.

das Buch: accusative - dem Kind: Dative