In this blogpost, we’ll explore a special class of German verbs: reflexive verbs. We’ll explain what reflexive verbs are, how they’re used, how to differentiate between personal pronouns and reflexive pronouns, and how to determine whether to use the reflexive pronoun in the accusative or dative case.
If you haven’t understood much now, don’t worry: We’ll start from the very beginning, with the basics.
What Are Reflexive Verbs?
Instead of overwhelming you with a complicated scientific explanation, let’s start with a simple practical example:
Ich wasche mich.
(I’m washing myself.)
This sentence consists of the subject ich (I), the verb wasche (am washing), and the object mich (myself). The subject indicates the person performing the activity waschen (to wash). In addition, the verb waschen requires an object to express who or what is being washed.
In our example, the subject and the object refer to the same person, who happens to be the speaker or author of the sentence. To show that subject and object denote the same person or thing, we use a so-called reflexive pronoun (Reflexivpronomen) as the object. In the example sentence, mich (myself) is a reflexive pronoun referring to the same person as the subject.
The combination of verb and reflexive pronoun is called reflexive verb (reflexives Verb). The infinitive (Infinitiv) of the verb in our example would be: sich waschen (to wash oneself).
Reflexive Pronoun or Personal Pronoun?
If you already know a little bit of German, you might think now: Hang on, isn’t mich a personal pronoun (Personalpronomen)? You’re not completely wrong with that. The word mich can also be a personal pronoun in the accusative case. As a personal pronoun, mich (me) would also be used as a sentence object, like in the following example:
Sie wäscht mich.
(She’s washing me.)
In contrast to its use as a reflexive pronoun, the object mich (me) in this sentence refers to a different person than the subject sie (she). In this case, mich is indeed a personal pronoun. However, if object and subject are the same person, the object is a reflexive pronoun.
For the first two persons, the reflexive pronouns have the same form as the corresponding personal pronouns:
Reflexive Pronouns (Accusative):
Ich wasche mich.
(I’m washing myself.)
Du wäschst dich.
(You’re washing yourself.)
Wir waschen uns.
(We’re washing ourselves.)
Ihr wäscht euch.
(You’re washing yourselves.)
Personal Pronouns (Accusative):
Du wäschst mich.
(You’re washing me.)
Ich wasche dich.
(I’m washing you.)
Er wäscht uns.
(He’s washing us.)
Sie wäscht euch.
(She’s washing you guys.)
The reflexive pronoun in the third person, however, is different from the corresponding personal pronouns. Regardless of number and gender, the reflexive pronoun in the third person is always sich (himself/herself/itself/themselves):
Personal Pronouns (Accusative):
Ich wasche ihn.
(I’m washing him.)
Ich wasche sie.
(I’m washing her.)
Ich wasche es.
(I’m washing it.)
Ich wasche sie.
(I’m washing them.)
Reflexive Pronouns (Accusative):
Er wäscht sich.
(He’s washing himself.)
Sie wäscht sich.
(She’s washing herself.)
Es wäscht sich.
(It’s washing itself.)
Sie waschen sich.
(They’re washing themselves.)
Compare the following two sentences:
Er wäscht sich.
(He’s washing himself.)
Er wäscht ihn.
(He’s washing him.)
In the first sentence, sich (himself) is a reflexive pronoun, meaning object and subject refer to the same person. In the second sentence, on the other hand, we have the person pronoun ihn (him), meaning subject and object are two different people.
The reflexive pronoun sich (oneself) is also used for the infinitive of reflexive verbs. For the infinitive of non-reflexive verbs, you would use jemanden (somebody) or etwas (something) rather than a specific person or thing:
sich waschen
(to wash oneself)
jemanden/etwas waschen
(to wash somebody/something)
The words jemanden (somebody) and etwas (something) are so-called indefinite pronouns (Indefinitpronomen).
Reflexive Pronouns in the Dative
In the above examples, the reflexive pronoun always appeares in the accusative case. However, reflexive pronouns can also be used in the dative case. For the first two persons, the dative forms of the reflexive pronouns are also the same as the personal pronouns. For the third person, the dative form of the reflexive pronoun is sich (oneself), which can be used for either accusative or dative case. Here are a few examples:
Personal Pronouns (Dative):
Er wäscht mir die Haare.
(literally He’s washing me the hair.)
Sie wäscht dir die Haare.
(literally She’s washing you the hair.)
Sie wäscht uns die Haare.
(literally She’s washing us the hair.)
Er wäscht euch die Haare.
(literally He’s washing you guys the hair.)
Ich wasche ihm die Haare.
(literally I’m washing him the hair.)
Ich wasche ihr die Haare.
(literally I’m washing her the hair.)
Ich wasche ihm die Haare.
(literally I’m washing it the hair.)
Ich wasche ihnen die Haare.
(literally I’m washing them the hair.)
Reflexive Pronouns (Dative):
Ich wasche mir die Haare.
(literally I’m washing myself the hair.)
Du wäschst dir die Haare.
(literally You’re washing yourself the hair.)
Wir waschen uns die Haare.
(literally We’re washing ourselves the hair.)
Ihr wäscht euch die Haare.
(literally You’re washing yourselves the hair.)
Er wäscht sich die Haare.
(literally He’s washing himself the hair.)
Sie wäscht sich die Haare.
(literally She’s washing herself the hair.)
Es wäscht sich die Haare.
(literally It’s washing itself the hair.)
Sie waschen sich die Haare.
(literally They’re washing themselves the hair.)
Note that, unlike in English, in German we do not use possessives like meine (my), deine (your) etc. to indicate whose hair is being washed. Instead, we use reflexive pronouns in the dative case, such as mir (myself), dir (yourself) etc.
What is being washed in the above sentences is not the subject but die Haare (the hair). The personal pronoun or reflexive pronoun in the dative case indicates whose hair is being washed. In the case of personal pronouns, the subject is washing someone else’s hair; in the case of reflexive pronouns, the subject is washing their own hair.
For reflexive pronouns in the dative case, we also use sich (oneself) with the infinitive. For the accusative object of an infinitive verb, we use jemanden (somebody) or etwas (something). The infinitive of wünschen (to wish), for example, would be:
sich etwas wünschen
(to wish something, literally to wish oneself something)
In this case, the reflexive pronoun sich (oneself) is dative, the indefinite pronoun etwas (something) accusative.
The reflexive pronoun is typically in the dative case if the verb already has an accusative object or a subordinate clause as its object. Here are two example sentences with the reflexive verb sich wünschen (to wish):
Ich wünsche mir einen Hund.
(literally I wish myself a dog.)
Ich wünsche mir, dass meine Träume wahr werden.
(literally I wish myself that my dreams come true.)
In English, we wouldn’t use a reflexive verb in the above sentences. The German verb wünschen (to wish), however, requires the person who the wish for to be indicated. If the subject wishes something for themselves, then the beneficiary of the wish is indicated with a reflexive pronoun in the dative case.
The content of the wish, on the other hand, is indicated as an accusative object or subordinate clause. While a dative object is considered an indirect object (indirektes Objekt) of the verb, accusative objects and subordinate clauses are considered direct objects (direkte Objekte).
In the first sentence, the accusative einen Hund (a dog) is the direct object of the verb wünsche (wish). In the second sentence, the subordinate clause dass meine Träume wahr werden (that my dreams come true) is the direct object. A verb usually only has one direct object and one indirect object.
Position of the Reflexive Pronoun
In main clauses, the reflexive pronoun is normally placed directly after the subject and the verb. Here are two example sentences:
Ich rasiere mich fast jeden Tag.
(I shave almost every day.)
Manchmal rasiere ich mich nicht.
(Sometimes I don’t shave.)
In main clauses the finite verb – in this case rasiere (shave) –always comes second, with only few exceptions. If the subject is put at the beginning of the sentence, like in the first sentence, then the relative pronoun follows directly after the finite verb: In the example, mich (myself) comes directly after the verb rasiere (shave).
However, if the sentence starts with a sentence element other than the subject, the subject comes after the finite verb. The second sentence, for example, starts with the adverb of time manchmal (sometimes), which is why the subject ich (I) is placed after the finite verb rasiere (shave). In that case, the reflexive pronoun comes directly after the subject.
In subordinate clauses, where the finite verb is placed at the end, the reflexive pronoun is put directly after the subject:
Weil sie sich gestritten haben, geht Lisa ohne Martin ins Kino.
(Because they had an argument, Lisa is going to the movie theater without Martin.)
The sentence contains the reflexive verb sich streiten (to have an argument). The reflexive pronoun sich (themselves) in the subordinate clause follows the subject sie (they). The finite verb haben (have) is placed at the end of the subordinate clause.
Summary
This article serves as a general introduction to reflexive verbs in German. Here is a summary of the most important points:
- Reflexive verbs are used to indicate that the subject and the object of the sentence refer to the same person or thing.
- Reflexive pronouns can appear either in the accusative case or in the dative case. In the first two persons, reflexive pronouns have the same form as the corresponding personal pronouns. For the third person, the reflexive pronoun is always sich (himself/herself/itself/themselves), regardless of number, gender, and case. Also with infinitives, we use sich (oneself).
- If the verb already has a direct object – either an accusative object or a subordinate clause – then the reflexive pronouns is used in the dative case and serves as an indirect object.
- In main clauses, the reflexive pronouns is placed after the verb and subject. If the sentence starts with the subject, the reflexive pronoun comes in third position after the verb. If the subject appears in third position after the verb, then the reflexive pronoun is in fourth position. In subordinate clauses, the reflexive pronoun is always put directly after the subject; the verb is placed at the end of the subordinate clause.
There are aspects of reflexive verbs that we didn’t cover in this article due to lack of space. We’ll do that in future articles. Subscribe now to our weekly newsletter to not miss any articles. See you next time!