Understanding how to talk about actions you do to or for yourself is essential for building natural-sounding English sentences. Reflexive pronouns are the key grammatical tool that makes this possible, and mastering them will help you express emphasis, independence, and self-directed actions with confidence.
What are reflexive pronouns and when should you use them?
Reflexive pronouns are words used when the subject and the object of a sentence refer to the same person or thing [0:25]. For example, in the sentence "She saw herself in the mirror," the subject she and the object herself point to the same individual.
There are two important suffixes to remember [0:48]:
- Self is used for singular forms.
- Selves is used for plural forms.
Here is the complete list of reflexive pronouns matched with their corresponding personal pronouns [1:05]:
- I → myself.
- You → yourself (singular) / yourselves (plural).
- He → himself.
- She → herself.
- It → itself.
- We → ourselves.
- They → themselves.
Which verbs normally don't go with reflexive pronouns?
Not every action directed at yourself requires a reflexive pronoun. Verbs like wash, shave, dress, and brush typically do not need one [1:30]. You would simply say "George shaves every morning" instead of "George shaves himself every morning." However, if your intention is to emphasize that someone does it without help, the reflexive pronoun becomes appropriate: "Sam is old enough to dress himself" [1:52].
In what situations do reflexive pronouns appear in sentences?
Reflexive pronouns serve several distinct purposes [2:03]:
- As an object: when the action reflects back to the subject. "When she sees her mother, she sees herself."
- After prepositions (but not prepositions of place): "Some people talk to themselves" [2:17].
- To emphasize independence, using the preposition by: "I did the homework by myself" [2:30]. This structure highlights that no help was received.
- To emphasize the importance of a subject: "The president himself called me" [2:44]. Placing the reflexive pronoun right after the subject draws attention to who performed the action.
How can you practice reflexive pronouns with real examples?
A helpful exercise is completing sentences with the correct reflexive pronoun [2:55]. Here are five examples with their answers:
- "Allison baked this cake herself." You could also say "by herself" to stress she had no assistance [3:10].
- "Did you build this website by yourself?" [3:22]
- "The CEO himself told me not to arrive late." [3:28]
- "They cut themselves with a knife while they were cooking dinner." [3:34]
- "We might hurt ourselves if we're not careful." [3:42]
Notice how each sentence follows one of the four use cases described above. Identifying which function the reflexive pronoun plays will help you choose the right one every time.
How do you see yourself in five years?
This question itself is a perfect example of a reflexive pronoun in action. Try writing your own sentences using myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. Share your answers in the comment section and challenge yourself to use at least one sentence with the preposition by for emphasis.
