Yourselves

Yourselves is the second-person plural reflexive pronoun in English. It refers back to the subject you when the action is directed at the same group, and it can function as a direct object, an indirect object, or after a preposition. It is also used for emphasis as an intensive pronoun in some contexts.

The form is part of a family that includes yourself, ourselves, and themselves. The corresponding possessive determiner is your, and the possessive pronoun is yours. In standard usage, you is the subject; yourselves is the reflexive object for the plural form. Example: Take care of yourselves. You yourselves know the truth.

Usage notes emphasize that yourselves is common in both everyday and formal English when addressing more than one person. It often appears in imperative or exhortative sentences, or in emphatic constructions such as You yourselves must decide. In very formal or careful writing, writers may favor alternatives like “you all” or restructure the sentence to avoid the reflexive pronoun, depending on regional preference and audience.

Etymology traces self to Old English, with the reflexive pronouns formed by attaching the suffixes -self or -selves to the corresponding personal pronoun. Yourselves combines your with the plural reflexive suffix -selves, a pattern shared across the English pronominal system. In other languages, analogous reflexive forms exist, reflecting similar grammatical functions for addressing and referencing the audience.