Reflexive Pronouns & Reflexive VerbsGerman uses the reflexive construction much more commonly than English. In a reflexive construction, the subject is also the object or indirect object of the verb. Subject is the object: Ich wasche mich. Subject is the indirect object: Ich kaufe mir Schokolade. We do not need to learn additional pronouns for ich, du, wir, and ihr. However, consider these third-person sentences: Er kauft ihm Schokolade. Er kauft sich Schokolade. In the first sentence, "he" is buying chocolate for "him," (another person). In the second, "he" is buying chocolate for "himself." The third-person reflexive pronoun in German is "sich." It's a great pronoun for English speakers, because it is masculine, feminine, neuter and plural, accusative and dative. Remember, the formal you, "Sie," has the same form as "they"; therefore, its reflexive is also "sich" (not capitalized). |
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Reflexive Pronouns: ich & du
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Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject refers
to itself. With ich and du, you must be mindful of the
case your reflexive expression requires, because the pronouns are different
in the accusative and dative cases.
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Nominative
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Accusative
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Dative
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ich
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mich
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mir
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du
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dich
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dir
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Reflexive Pronouns: third person, plurals &
Sie
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With wir & ihr, case is not a problem, because their dative & accusative forms are the same. |
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Nominative
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Reflexive
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wir
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uns
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ihr
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euch
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er, sie (feminine), es, sie (plural),
Sie
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sich
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Ich wasche mich. Kind, du sollst dich waschen. |
Verbs like "waschen" and "kaufen" can be used reflexively or not. Use the accusative reflexive pronoun when there is no other object in the sentence besides the reflexive object. |
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Ich kaufe mir Schokolade. Ich putze mir die Zähne. Kind, du mußt dir das Gesicht noch waschen. |
Use the dative reflexive when there is a direct object of the verb. |
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Es handelt sich hier um Ihre Gesundheit. |
Some verb constructions like "sich handeln um" are interesting idioms for us to memorize. |
Ein Tag am Meer (Die Fantastischen Vier)In this song you will find several verbs which are used reflexively. Some of them also have different meanings when used without a reflexive. Some of the reflexive constructions are idiomatic. Print this page or do the exercise on a separate sheet of paper. Read the following table of verbs from the song. Look them up and write in the English meaning (Bedeuting) in the space next to it. In the space under it, write the sentence in the song in which the verb appears, and try to figure out what it means. |
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| Verbum | Bedeutung |
| ändern |
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| sich ändern |
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| sich irgendwo auskennen |
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| sich bewegen |
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| sich drehen um |
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| fühlen |
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| sich fühlen |
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| sich nehmen |
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| von sich nehmen |
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| bei sich sein |
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For more on Reflexive Verbs, see
Reflexive Verben mit Akkusativ und
Dativ
Reflexive Verbenliste mit Übungen
© A.Campitelli, 1999-2001