Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used to show that the actions described by a verb act upon the subject of the verb: the subject and the object are thus the same. The forms of reflexive pronouns correspond to the forms of the subject pronouns:

• I --> myself
• you (singular) --> yourself
• you (plural) --> yourselves
• he --> himself
• she --> herself
• it --> itself
• we --> ourselves
• they --> themselves

To use a verb reflexively, the reflexive pronoun must follow the verb (and, in the case of an intransitive verb, it will follow any preposition used with the verb). If there are multiple verbs in the sentence, the reflexive pronoun follows the verb to which it applies:

• I told myself it would never happen.
• She talks to herself all the time.
• Look at yourself in that mirror!
• I would like to give myself a raise.

At the end of a sentence, one can add reflexive pronouns as a way of accentuating the subject in the sentence. In this case, the verb does not have reflexive power:

• I would rather do that myself.
• Can you talk to him yourself?

Related topics

• Relative pronouns
• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Reciprocal pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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