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🪞 Compendium
Grammar
EN
English — Reflexive and emphatic pronouns
Words ending in -self / -selves refer back to the subject (I hurt myself) or add emphasis (I built it myself). The same set of forms covers both uses.
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How it works
✓ Rule
Use a reflexive pronoun as object when subject and object are the same person: I cut myself; she taught herself. As an emphasizer it means "and no one else": I did it myself. With by it means "alone / without help": I live by myself.
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Examples
| Subject → form | Example |
|---|---|
| I → myself | I hurt myself. |
| you (sg.) → yourself | Help yourself to coffee. |
| he → himself | He introduced himself. |
| she → herself | She taught herself French. |
| it → itself | The door closed itself. |
| we → ourselves | We enjoyed ourselves. |
| you (pl.) → yourselves | Look after yourselves. |
| they → themselves | They blamed themselves. |
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Good to know
⚠ Note
Don't use a reflexive where English needs a plain object. After many everyday verbs no reflexive is used: say I wash and get dressed, not I wash myself. For mutual actions use each other, not a reflexive: They looked at each other (not themselves).