English Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns: A Basic Guide for Learners

A verb is an action word. A pronoun is a word that can replace a noun or noun phrase.

A reflexive pronoun can be used in a few different ways, including in reflexive verbs.

Here’s an easy guide on the basics of English reflexive verbs and pronouns.

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What Are Reflexive Verbs?

Here is a table matching subject pronouns and their reflexive pronouns:

Subject Pronoun	Reflexive Pronoun
I	myself
you	yourself
he	himself
she	herself
it	itself
we	ourselves
you (plural)	yourselves
they	themselves
one	oneself

Notice that each reflexive pronoun ends in “self.”

When an action is “reflexive,” it means that the one doing the action is also the one who gets affected by it. Reflexive verbs are verbs that use reflexive pronouns. This means that, grammatically, the subject of the sentence (the “doer” of the verb) is the same as the direct object (the “receiver” of the verb).

Let’s look at an example to start.

Lisa is teaching English.

Here, it’s not clear who Lisa is teaching English to.

Lisa is teaching the students English.

Now we know that the students are who Lisa is teaching.

Now let’s say that Lisa is the one who’s teaching, but Lisa is also the one being taught. So, Lisa is learning English on her own.

Lisa is teaching Lisa English.

That sounds funny, right? It’s also not completely clear. In this sentence, there could be two different people who are both named Lisa. One person named Lisa could be teaching someone else whose name’s also Lisa.

So we need a different word that lets us say exactly what’s happening. That word is the reflexive pronoun herself.

Lisa is teaching herself English.

So if Lisa is the one doing the teaching and the learning, Lisa is teaching herself. Teaching is the reflexive verb in this case, and herself is the reflexive pronoun.

Let’s try it with the other pronouns.

• I am teaching myself. 

• You are teaching yourself.

• Lisa is teaching herself. / She is teaching herself.
• Frank is teaching himself. / He is teaching himself.
• It is teaching itself.

• We are teaching ourselves.

• You are teaching yourselves.

• They are teaching themselves.
• One is teaching oneself.

When the Subject Is General or Non-Specific

Sometimes, the subject isn’t completely obvious, or it may not even be a person at all.

“One” as the subject

In modern English, one and oneself aren’t used very often in conversation. We usually only use them when we’re talking or writing about something in a very general way, sometimes for educational purposes.

For example, if you’re learning housekeeping vocabulary, you might find a dictionary or online definition that says “toilet paper is used to clean oneself after going to the bathroom.”

“Someone” as the subject

If you know someone is teaching themselves, but don’t know who that person is, you might say:

• Someone is teaching herself.
• Someone is teaching himself.
• Someone is teaching themself/themselves.

This last one might sound funny whether you use themself or themselves, and some people will tell you that they’re both incorrect. However, it’s common to refer to a person who’s not specified as being male or female with “they.” When this happens, you may sometimes see that the reflexive pronoun used is themself rather than themselves.

“It” as the subject

You usually use the pronoun “it” when the subject isn’t male or female, or when the subject isn’t human.

One common example of how this pronoun is used in a reflexive verb is the expression “it sells itself” (or sometimes “it practically sells itself”). This is an expression that means that a certain product, like a new piece of technology, is selling very well. In other words, this product is so popular and desirable that it almost seems like no actual selling or advertising is required.

Common Verbs That Are Used with Reflexive Pronouns

Here are some of the most common verbs in English that you’ll see with reflexive pronouns.

To introduce

To introduce yourself means to tell someone your name when you’re meeting for the very first time.

I will introduce myself to everyone at the party.

To make

To make oneself something means exactly what it sounds like. If I say “She made herself dinner,” it means that a girl cooked or prepared dinner food for herself.

I made myself a salad for lunch.

To convince

If I say “We convinced ourselves to try sushi,” it could mean that we ate this delicious meal after discussing whether or not we thought it’d be a good idea. It also might mean that we were a little nervous about trying sushi for the first time, but we decided to try it anyway.

I didn’t want to apologize for singing loudly and annoying everyone, but I convinced myself it was the right thing to do.

To hurt/to injure

If I say “I hurt myself when I fell,” it means that I became injured when I fell. You can injure yourself or hurt yourself without meaning to. There are other reflexive verbs having to do with being harmed. A person can cut themselves or kill themselves (this last one’s usually understood to be done on purpose, and is the same as “commit suicide”).

When I tried to stand on my chair, I lost my balance and injured myself. 

To drive

If I say “You drove yourself to the party,” it would mean that you got into a car and used it to get to the party.

Because I was hurt, my friends wouldn’t let me drive myself home.

To enjoy

To say that you are enjoying yourself doesn’t mean that you are what you’re enjoying. To enjoy yourself simply means to have a good time.

I enjoyed myself at the party, but some of the other guests didn’t enjoy themselves as much.

To help

To help yourself can mean exactly what it sounds like. For example, someone might say “I can’t help you if you won’t even help yourself.” But to help yourself can also mean to take or serve yourself food or drinks. Someone who’s hosting a party or has invited you over to their home as a guest might tell you to help yourself to refreshments (food or drinks).

I helped myself to too much sushi, so there wasn’t enough left for everyone else.

To behave

“Behave” by itself can either mean act properly and acceptably, or just act in a specific way. For example, you can “behave badly.” Parents often yell “Behave yourself!” if their children are doing anything bad. If you behave yourself, that always means that you behave well.

If I am ever invited to another party, I will try to behave myself.

Other Ways Reflexive Pronouns Can Be Used

Besides being used in reflexive verbs, reflexive pronouns can also be used in sentences in a couple of other ways.

With prepositions

You can use a reflexive pronoun with a preposition to give more information in a sentence about what’s happening.

Let’s take a look at this sentence:

I went home to be alone.

Another way that we could say alone here is by myself.

I went home to be by myself.

This might seem strange, because if you think about it, you’re always by, or near, yourself. However, as we saw in the examples above, reflexive pronouns are used in their own special way in some common phrases and expressions.

Here’s another common way a reflexive pronoun can be used with a preposition:

She bought a dress for herself.

In this sentence, herself is who she bought the dress for. Like with Lisa teaching English to herself, you need the word herself to be clear.

If you said “She bought the dress for her,” it’d sound like she bought the dress for another person.

For emphasis

Reflexive pronouns can also be used to emphasize (stress, or give attention to) information in a phrase.

Consider this example:

I want to do it myself.

The person speaking this sentence could just say “I want to do it,” and have it mean almost the same thing. However, the word myself emphasizes the word I, showing that the speaker wishes to draw attention to this word. 

You might see this usage of a reflexive pronoun in this kind of exchange:

“It seems like you could use some help with the laundry. Would you like me to fold these shirts?”

“No, please don’t, I want to do it myself.”

Here’s another example:

They wanted to feed the dogs themselves.

In this sentence, it sounds like they might not have trusted someone else to feed the dogs. Themselves makes it seem more important that they be the one(s) to feed the dogs, not just that the dogs are being fed.

When You Don’t Need to Use Reflexive Pronouns

Compared to some other languages, reflexive pronouns in English aren’t used as often.

Unless you want to emphasize an action or the person doing it, you don’t need to use reflexive pronouns in cases where a person usually does something to or for themselves.

For example, instead of saying David shaved himself after his shower, you can just say  David shaved after his shower.

Instead of saying Paulina dressed herself for dinner, you can just say  Paulina dressed for dinner.

Resources for Practice

Here are some resources you can use to get even more familiar with reflexive verbs and pronouns:

• This reflexive pronouns quiz from Englisch-Hilfen lets you practice using reflexive pronouns in sentences with a fill-in-the-blank challenge.
• This quiz from My English Pages first has you identify all the reflexive pronouns, and then has you choose the right ones to go in sentences.
• The FluentU learning program is a good way to hear reflective verbs and pronouns in use by native English speakers.

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These resources will help you start seeing how reflexive pronouns are actually used. The examples in this post and the above quizzes don’t cover all the possible usages of reflexive pronouns and verbs in English. However, now that you’ve learned all the reflexive pronouns, you’ll more easily be able to notice all the different ways they’re commonly used.

 

The more you practice English reflexive verbs and pronouns, the more easily you’ll be able to use them.

So keep teaching yourself!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)