Reflexive Pronouns

n English, we don’t really have reflexive verbs but we have reflexive pronouns, which we use when the object is the same as the subject. First, let’s look at their forms.

object              reflexive

pronoun            pronoun

me                   myself

you                  yourself

him                   himself

her                   herself 

 it                       itself

   us                  ourselves

   you                 yourselves

   them               themselves

Notice that the plural form of self is selves, so the last three reflexive pronouns are plural. Now, let’s look at how they’re used.

Jack loves her.

Jack loves himself.

In the first sentence, the subject and object are two different people (Jack loves Jill.), so we use an object pronoun. In the second sentence, the subject and object are the same person (Jack loves Jack.), so we use a reflexive pronoun. 


Here are other examples:

Did you hurt yourself?

They caused themselves trouble.

We really enjoyed ourselves at the party last night.

Do not confuse reflexive pronouns with each other  or one another when people in a group do the same action simultaneously to other people in this group. Check out the difference:

Jack and Jill love themselves.

Jack and Jill love each other. / Jack and Jill love one another.

In the first sentence, Jack loves Jack and Jill loves Jill. But in the next pair of sentences, Jack loves Jill and Jill loves Jack.

Like with object pronouns, we can use prepositions before reflexive pronouns.

I sometimes get angry at myself.

Are you talking to yourself again.

He bought the tie for himself.

She did the homework by herself.

Usually, by + reflexive pronouns means without any help:

I cleaned the house by myself. = I cleaned the house without any help

Sometimes, by + reflexive pronouns means without company:

We are by ourselves.  = We are alone.

They played by themselves. = They played alone.

In the imperative tense (which we use when giving orders to people), there is no subject, but we only use the imperative to refer to the second person in English. So if the object is the same as the person you're giving the order to, use the second-person reflexive pronoun:

Make yourselves at home.

Save yourself!

Well now, you should feel confident to express yourself with reflexive pronouns!