Reflexive pronoun

"Herself" redirects here. For the toy elf, see Herself the Elf.

"Himself" redirects here. For other uses, see Himself (disambiguation).

"Oneself" redirects here. For the hip-hop artist, see Oneself (artist).

"Ourselves" redirects here. For the 1988 punk album, see Ourselves (album).

A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers (its antecedent) within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent (see binding). In some languages, there is a difference between reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns; but the exact conditions that determine whether or not something be bound are not yet well defined and depend on the language in question. It depends on the part of the sentence that the pronoun is in.

In English, the function of a reflexive pronoun is among the meanings of the words myself, yourself, thyself (archaic), himself (in some dialects, "hisself"), herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, ourself (as majestic plural), yourselves, and themselves (in some dialects, "theirselves"). In the statements "I see him" and "She sees you", the objects are not the same persons as the subjects, and regular pronouns are used. However, when the person being seen is the same as the person who is seeing, the reflexive pronoun is used: "I see myself" or "She sees herself".

Origins and usage

In Indo-European languages, the reflexive pronoun has its origins in Proto-Indo-European. In some languages, the distinction between the normal objective and the reflexive pronouns exists mainly in the third person: whether one says "I like me" or "I like myself", there is no question that the object is the same person as the subject; but, in "They like them(selves)", there can be uncertainty about the identity of the object unless a distinction exists between the reflexive and the nonreflexive. In some languages, this distinction includes genitive forms: see, for instance, the Danish examples below. In languages with a distinct reflexive pronoun form, it is often gender-neutral.

A reflexive pronoun is a special kind of pronoun that is usually used when the object of a sentence is the same as the subject. Each personal pronoun (such as I, you, and she) has its own reflexive form:

• I-myself
• you (singular)-yourself
• he-himself
• she-herself
• it-itself
• we-ourselves
• you (plural)-yourselves
• they-themselves

Reflexive pronouns are primarily used in three situations: when the subject and object are the same (e.g., "He watched himself on TV."), as the object of a preposition when the subject and the object are the same (e.g., "That man is talking to himself."), and to emphasize the subject through an intensive pronoun (e.g., "They ate all the food themselves.")

Non-reflexive usage in English

It is increasingly common to use reflexive pronouns without local linguistic antecedents to refer to discourse participants or people already referenced in a discourse: for example, "Please, forward the information to myself." Such formulations are usually considered non-standard. Within the linguistics literature, reflexives with discourse antecedents are often referred to as logophors. Standard English does allow the use of logophors in some contexts: for example, "John was angry. Embarrassing pictures of himself were on display." However, within Standard English, this logophoric use of reflexives is generally limited to positions where the reflexive does not have a coargument.^[1] The newer non-standard usage does not respect this limitation. In some cases, reflexives without local antecedents may be better analyzed as emphatic pronouns without any true reflexive sense.

It is common in some subsets of the English-speaking population to use standard objective pronouns to express reflexive relations, especially in the first and sometimes second persons, and especially for a recipient: for example, "I want to get me some supper." This usage is non-standard.

Reflexive pronouns in languages other than English

Chinese

In Mandarin Chinese, the reflexive pronoun is zìjǐ (自己), meaning 'self'.^[2] The antecedent to which it refers can be inferred by context, which is generally the subject of the sentence:

• Wǒ bǎohù zìjǐ. (我保护自己。) (I protect myself.)
• Tā bǎohù zìjǐ. (他保护自己。) (He protects himself.)
• Wǒ gěi tā zìjǐ de shū. (我给他自己的书。) (I gave him my own book.)
• Tā gěi wǒ zìjǐ de shū. (他给我自己的书。) (He gave me his own book.)

The antecedent can be reiterated before the reflexive pronoun; this can be used to refer to an antecedent that's not the subject:

• Wǒ gěi tā wǒ zìjǐ de shū. (我给他我自己的书。) (I gave him my own book.)
• Wǒ gěi tā tā zìjǐ de shū. (我给他他自己的书。) (I gave him his own book.)

Like English, the reflexive can also be used to emphasize the antecedent^[2]:

• Wáng xiānshēng zìjǐ zuò le. (王先生自己做了。) (Mr. Wang himself did it.)

The reflexive can also be the subject of an embedded clause, unlike English, which must use the non-reflexive form:

• Tā juédé zìjǐ hěn cōngmíng. (他觉得自己很聪明。) (He feels that he is very clever.)

Also unlike English, the reflexive can refer to antecedents outside of the embedded clause. Because of this, it may be ambiguous whether the antecedent refers to the subject of the main clause or the embedded clause, in which case it may be necessary to reiterate the antecedent:

• Wǒ juédé Wáng xiānshēng bù xǐhuān zìjǐ. (我觉得王先生不喜欢自己。) (I feel that Mr. Wang doesn't like me/himself.)
• Wǒ juédé Wáng xiānshēng bù xǐhuān wǒ zìjǐ. (我觉得王先生不喜欢我自己。) (I feel that Mr. Wang doesn't like me.)
• Wǒ juédé Wáng xiānshēng bù xǐhuān tā zìjǐ. (我觉得王先生不喜欢他自己。) (I feel that Mr. Wang doesn't like himself.)

The reflexive pronoun in Cantonese Chinese, jihgéi, cognate to Mandarin zìjǐ (and thus also written as 自己), also follows the same rules.^[3] This was also the case in Classical Chinese, which simply used 己^[4] (Old Chinese: *kəʔ^[5]).

Danish

• Jeg beskytter ham. (I protect him.)
• Han beskytter ham. (He protects him. Him designates a person other than the one designated by He.)
• Han beskytter sig selv. (He protects himself.)

In Danish, there is also a difference between normal and reflexive genitives:

• Anna gav Maria hendes bog. (Anna gave her [Maria's] book to Maria.)
• Anna gav Maria sin bog. (Anna gave her [Anna's] book to Maria.)

In the latter case, "sin" is a case of a reflexive possessive pronoun, i.e. it reflects that the subject in the phrase (Anna) owns the object (the book).

Esperanto

The Esperanto reflexive pronoun is si, or sia for the possessive (to which can be added -j for plural agreement and -n for direct object).

• Li legas liajn librojn. (He reads his (someone else's) books.)
• Li legas siajn librojn. (He reads his (own) books.)
• Ŝi legas siajn librojn. (She reads her (own) books.)
• Ili legas siajn librojn. (They read their (own) books.)
• Li amas lin. (He loves him (someone else).)
• Li amas sin. (He loves himself.)
• Li rimarkis ŝian amon al si. (He noticed her love for herself (reflexive).)
• Li rimarkis ŝian amon al li. (He noticed her love for him (using a normal pronoun).)
• Li rimarkis sian amon al si. (He noticed his (own, reflexive) love for himself (reflexive).)
• Li rimarkis sian amon al li. (He noticed his (own, reflexive) love for him (someone else, not reflexive).)
• Li diras, ke la hundo lavas sian vizaĝon. (He says that the dog is washing its (the dog's) face.)
• Li diras, ke la hundo lavas lian vizaĝon. (He says that the dog is washing his (the speaker's or someone else's, but not the dog's) face.)

French

In French, the main reflexive pronoun is 'se', with its indefinite form soi.

There are also intensifying reflexive pronouns, such as moi-même, toi-même, lui-même/elle-même/soi-même, nous-mêmes, vous-mêmes and eux-mêmes/elles-mêmes, exactly similar in meaning (but not in use) to myself, yourself….

Icelandic

There is only one reflexive pronoun in Icelandic and that is the word sig. It does not differ between genders nor number.

The reflexive pronouns are as such:

• Reflexive pronoun: sig (himself/itself/herself/themselves)
• reflexive possessive pronoun: sinn (his/her/its/their)

	Singular and plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	(hann/hún/það/þeir/þær/þau) ("he/she/it/they")
Accusative	sig
Dative	sér
Genitive	sín

Examples

The reflexive pronoun refers to the third person:

• Hann talar um sig. (masc. sing.) (He talks about himself)
• Þeir tala um sig. (masc. plur.) (They talk about themselves)
• Stúlkan flýtti sér heim. (fem. sing.) (the girl hurried [herself] home)
• Þær flýttu sér heim. (neut. plur.) (they [the girls] hurried [themselves] home)
• Barnið naut sín. (neut. sing.) (the child enjoyed itself)
• Börnin nutu sín. (neut. plur.) (the children enjoyed themselves)

Japanese

In the Japanese language, jibun 自分 and jibunjishin　自分自身 are reflexive pronouns that correspond roughly to 'herself' and 'himself'. They differ from English in some ways; for example, jibun and jibunjishin do not have to agree in gender or number where English reflexives do. Jibun can further be bound locally or long distance where English reflexives must always occur locally. Although both English and Japanese pronouns must be c-commanded by their antecedents, because of the syntactic structure of Japanese, long distance binding is allowed.

Latin

In the 1st and 2nd person, Latin uses the ordinary oblique forms of the personal pronouns as reflexive pronouns. In the 3rd person, Latin uses the special reflexive pronoun se, which is the same for all genders and numbers, and declined in all cases except the nominative and the vocative.

	Singular or Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	—
Vocative	—
Accusative	sē, sēsē
Genitive	suī
Dative	sibi
Ablative	sē, sēsē
Locative	sē, sēsē

Example

• per se

Macedonian

Reflexive pronouns	Examples
себе/ sebe (himself, herself) се/ se (self)	Тој пиша на самиот себе си. / Toj piša na samiot sebe si/. — He wrote to himself. Јас се мијам глава./ Jas se mijam glava. — I [ref. pron.] wash my head.

Novial

(Novial is a constructed language, mostly based on Romance languages.)

• Lo vida lo. (He sees him.)
• Lo vida se. (He sees himself.)
• Anna donad lan libre a Maria. (Anna gave her [Maria's] book to Maria.)
• Anna donad sen libre a Maria. (Anna gave her [Anna's] book to Maria.)

Portuguese

• Quando ele o ver. (When he sees him.)
• Quando ele se ver. (When he sees himself.)

There are two ways to make a reflexive sentence in Portuguese. The first way is adding the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos - also vos). The second form is used to stress the reflexive action, especially when using the word "mesmo" (self)

• Eu me machuquei. (I hurt myself.)
• Eu machuquei a mim [mesmo]. (I hurt myself.)
• Tu sempre te machucas . (You always hurt yourself.)
• Tu sempre machucas a ti [mesmo]. (You always hurt yourself)
• Ele se machucou ontem. (He hurt himself yesterday.)
• Ela se machucou ontem. (She hurt herself yesterday.)
• Ele machucou a si [mesmo]. (He hurt himself.)
• Nós nos machucamos. (We hurt ourselves.)
• Nós machucamos a nós [mesmos]. (We hurt ourselves)
• Eles 'se machucam todos os dias. (They [masc] hurt themselves everyday.)
• Elas machucam a si [mesmas] todos os dias. (They [fem] hurt themselves everyday.)
• Vós nunca vos machucais [unsual, almost nonexistent] (You never hurt yourselves.)
• Vocês nunca se machucam. (You never hurt yourselves.)

Russian

The particle sebya universally means "oneself"/"myself"/"himself", etc. An emphasized form is "sam sebya" ("sama sebya" - feminine form, "sami sebya" - plural).

• Он поранил себя. On poranil sebya. ("He has wounded himself.")
• Он поранил сам себя. On poranil sam sebya. ("He has wounded himself." Literally: "He himself has wounded himself.")

In addition, the reflective pronoun sebya gave rise the reflective affix -sya (-ся) used to generate reflexive verbs:

• Он поранился (He has wounded himself.)

There are certain stylistic differences between the three usages, despite being rendered in the same way in English.

Russian has a reflexive possessive as well.

• Он любит свою жену. On lyubit svoyu zhenu. (He loves his wife (his own). - Reflective possessive)
• Он любит его жену. On lyubit yego zhenu (He loves his wife (someone else's). - It is ambiguous in English, but not in Russian.)

Serbian

• Ana je dala Mariji njenu knjigu. (Ana gave her [Maria's] book to Maria.)
• Ana je dala Mariji svoju knjigu. (Ana gave her [Ana's] book to Maria.)

Spanish

In Spanish, the reflexive pronouns are: me/nos (first person singular/plural), te/os (second person) or se (third person). In Latin America, "os" is not used, being replaced by "se" for the pronoun "ustedes". For clarity, there are optional intensifying adjuncts for reflexive pronouns, accompanied by "mismo/a" (masculine and feminine forms for "self"). These are not strictly adjuncts: "si mismo/a" (instead of "se"), "ti mismo/a" (in the River Plate region, it is replaced by "vos mismo/a"), but "mi mismo" — that is, they usually postpend the genitive.

Examples with "wash oneself":

• yo me lavo (I wash myself.)
• nosotros nos lavamos (We wash ourselves.)
• tú te lavas (You wash yourself.)
• vos te lavás (You wash yourself, Rioplatense Spanish)
• usted ("Ud.") se lava (You wash yourself. [Formal])
• ustedes ("Uds.") se lavan (You wash yourselves. [Formal, plural])
• vosotros os laváis (in Spain)
• él se lava (He washes himself.)
• ella se lava (She washes herself.)
• ellos se lavan (They wash themselves. [Masculine])
• ellas se lavan (They wash themselves. [Feminine])

Note that the indirect object "le"/"les" do not override "se" in the reflexive.

Slovene

• Ana je dala Mariji njeno knjigo. (Ana gave her [Maria's] book to Maria.)
• Ana je dala Mariji svojo knjigo. (Ana gave her [Ana's] book to Maria.)

Hungarian

• Beszélek magamról. (I talk about myself.)
• Beszélsz magadról. (You talk about yourself.)
• Beszél magáról. (He talks about himself. But also: She talks about herself. It talks about itself. And formal version of you: You talk about yourself.)
• Beszélünk magunkról. (We talk about ourselves.)
• Beszéltek magatokról. (You talk about yourselves.)
• Beszélnek magukról. (They talk about themselves.)

See also

• Reflexive clause
• Reciprocal (grammar)
• Reciprocal pronoun
• Reflexive verb
• Logophoricity

References

1. ^ Pollard, Carl & Ivan Sag (1992). "Anaphors in English and the Scope of the Binding Theory". Linguistic Inquiry (23): 261–303. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Yip, Po-Ching; Rimmington, Don (2004). Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. pp. 56–7. ISBN 0-415-15032-9. 
3. ^ Matthews, Stephen; Yip, Virginia (1994). Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. pp. 84–7. ISBN 0-415-08945-X. 
4. ^ Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1995). Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar. UBC Press. p. 83. ISBN 0-7748-0541-2. 
5. ^ Schuessler, Axel (2007). "jǐ₂ 己". ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2975-9