Reflexive Pronouns
1. What are the reflexive pronouns?
| Personal pronouns | self/selves pronouns |
|---|---|
| I | myself |
| you | yourself |
| he | himself |
| she | herself |
| it | itself |
| we | ourselves |
| you | yourselves |
| they | themselves |
2. What are reflexive pronouns used for?
The normal use of reflexive pronouns are to talk about actions where the subject and the object of the verb are the same person.
- I cut myself shaving.
- We dried ourselves after swimming.
- You will have to drive yourself to work today
3. What verbs do we use reflexive pronouns with?
We can use a reflexive pronoun as direct object with most transitive verbs, but these are the most common:
- amuse
- blame
- cut
- dry
- enjoy
- help
- hurt
- introduce
- kill
- prepare
- satisfy
- teach
We do not use a reflexive pronoun after verbs which describe things people usually do for themselves, such as wash, shave, dress:
She washed [herself] in cold water.
He always shaves [himself] before going to work.
Susan dressed [herself] and got ready to go out.
We only use reflexives with these verbs for emphasis:
He’s old enough to wash himself.
Susan dressed herself despite feeling ill