Pronouns: reflexive
We use reflexive pronouns when the object of the verb in the sentence is the same person or thing as the subject.
We also can use them to add emphasis to various statements.
- Mary likes looking at herself in the mirror. (‘herself’ refers to Mary, not to anybody else)
- Jack and Evelyn built their house themselves. (we emphasize the fact that nobody helped them)
Reflexive pronouns are formed like this:
| Subject pronoun |
Object pronoun | Reflexive pronoun |
| I
You He She It We You They |
Me
You Him Her It Us You Them |
Myself
Yourself Himself Herself Itself Ourselves Yourselves Themselves |
- I usually do the cleaning myself.
- Can you repair this chair yourself?
- Jane bought herself a new pair of shoes.
- Jack introduced himself to other people at the meeting.
- This door locks itself after closing.
- We must make important decisions ourselves.
- Be careful, don’t cut yourselves with those knives.
- Old people often talk to themselves.
In many situations we use reflexive pronouns just to emphasize that:
- the subject is acting upon itself instead of acting upon another object, or
- to emphasize the importance of the subject.
Consider the following examples:
- Girls liked them. (they liked someone else)
- Girls liked themselves. (subject acted upon itself)
- I do my laundry myself, and my mother does not help me.
- The movie itself was not very good, but the soundtrack was awesome.
- The Queen herself attended the ceremonial reception.
- We could fix the car ourselves, but Peter decided to take it to the service.
We don’t use reflexive pronouns when two or more subjects perform the same reciprocal action. ‘Each other’ is used instead:
- We looked at each other with admiration. (I looked at her, and she looked at me)
- BUT: We looked at ourselves in the mirror. (I looked at myself, and she looked at herself)
- My friends and I are helping each other with the homework.
- Usually cats and dogs don’t like each other.
- Children gave each other apples and ate them with pleasure.