A reflexive pronoun is used when the subject of the sentence—the person doing an action—is also the object—the person the action is being done to.
The reflexive pronoun in Russian is:
себя (sebya) — oneself (can be translated using any of -self or -selves pronouns, depending on context)
How to Use Reflexive Pronouns
The reflexive pronoun does not change based on the person, gender, or number. It has several forms for different cases, though, so it does change based on its role in the sentence.
Since a reflexive pronoun cannot be a subject, it doesn’t have a nominative form. The rest of the forms can be seen in the following examples:
Nominative: None
Genitive: себя (sebya)
Она такого от себя не ожидала. (Ona takogo ot sebya ne ozhidala.) — She didn’t expect this from herself.
Dative: себе (sebe)
Мы устроили себе отпуск. (My ustroili sebe otpusk.) — We arranged a vacation for ourselves.
Accusative: себя (sebya)
Мне кажется, он себя слишком сильно любит. (Mne kazhetsya, on sebya slishkom sil’no lyubit.) — It seems to me that he loves himself too much.
Instrumental: собой (soboy)
Хорошо быть в мире с собой. (Khorosho byt’ v mire s soboy.) — It’s good to be at peace with oneself.
Prepositional: себе (sebe)
Расскажи немного о себе. (Rasskazhi nemnogo o sebe.) — Tell a little about yourself.
All in all, the reflexive pronoun declines exactly like the pronoun “ты,” but with words starting with “с” instead of “т.”
