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WORD GRAMMAR
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Verb
- Conjugation in indicative
- Person and number
- Tenses
- Voice
- Mood
- Verb categories
- Valency
- Semantic categories of verbs
- Finite / non-finite verb forms
- Noun
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Article
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Particle
- Interjection
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Verb
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SENTENCE GRAMMAR
- Clause types
- Complex clauses
- Constituents of a sentence
- Sentence structure
- Word order in a sentence
- Negation
The reflexive pronouns
HA3
Reflexive pronouns are inflected according to person, number and case. The first and second person singular and plural forms of the reflexive pronoun are identical to those of the personal pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are never used in the nominative and are rarely used in the genitive.
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singular
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1. person
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2. person
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3. person
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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| dative |
mir
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dir
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sich
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| accusative |
mich
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dich
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plural
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1. person
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2. person
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3. person
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| dative |
uns
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euch
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sich
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| accusative | |||||
The reflexive pronoun agrees with the sentence object in person and number.
| Example 1 | |||
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Ich
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will
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mich
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im Urlaub vor allem erholen. |
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1. person
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1. person
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singular
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singular
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| Example 2 | |||
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Ihr
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interessiert |
euch
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für Politik. |
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2. person
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2. person
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plural
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plural
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With verbs that are only used as reflexive, the reflexive pronoun is considered part of the verb and does not express a reflexive meaning. This also applies to reflexive verbs I, which can be used as reflexive but not exclusively as such.
| Examples | |
| Sie muss sich beeilen. | verbs only used as reflexive |
| Er ärgert sich sehr darüber. | verbs used also as reflexive (group I) |
On the other hand, in regard to verbs of group II, the reflexive pronoun is the object of these verbs and is identical to the subject.
| Sie | wäscht | sich | jeden Tag. | verbs used also as reflexive (group II) | |||||
Depending on verb valency, a reflexive pronoun can be an accusative, dative or prepositional object.
| Examples | |
| Wann ziehst du dich an? | accusative object |
| Ich kaufe mir ein neues Handy. | dative object |
| Sie kann auf sich nicht aufpassen. | prepositional object |
Reflexive or personal pronouns in infinitive or participle clauses
The following rule usually applies to infinitive or participle clauses.
Rule: The reflexive pronoun refers to the subject of the infinitive or the participle and the personal pronoun to the subject of the clause. However, this does not happen when a preposition is present. In this case, only the reflexive pronoun can be used, referring either to the subject of the clause or the subject of the infinitive/participle.
| Examples | ||
| Ich sehe ihn sich anziehen. | reflexive pronoun refers to the infinitive subject |
verb + accusative object + infinitive
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| Das Kind sah seine Mutter es anziehen. | personal pronoun refers to the clause subject | |
| Er hörte die Leute über sich lachen. | reflexive pronoun refers to the clause or the infinitive subject | |
| Er forderte sie auf, sich darüber zu informieren. | reflexive pronoun refers to the infinitive subject |
infinitive clause
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| Er forderte sie auf, ihn darüber zu informieren. | personal pronoun refers to the clause subject | |
| Sie sah ihrer sich schminkenden Schwester zu. | reflexive pronoun refers to the participle subject |
participle clause
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| Sie sah ihrer sie schminkenden Schwester zu. | personal pronoun refers to the clause subject |
The reflexive pronoun as a reciprocal pronoun
Reflexive pronouns in the plural number can also be used as reciprocal pronouns.
| Examples | ||
| Wir haben uns begrüßt. | Wir haben einander begrüßt. | |
| Sie haben sich getroffen. | Sie haben einander getroffen. | |
| reflexive pronoun | reciprocal pronoun | |