reflexives

Reflexives are grammatical resources used to indicate that the subject of a sentence is also the object of the action, or that the action is performed with respect to the subject itself. They occur as reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves), as reflexive verb forms, or as reflexive constructions in various languages. Reflexives are distinct from intensive pronouns, which emphasize the subject rather than marking a structural relation.

In English, reflexive pronouns typically function as objects or after prepositions: He hurt himself, She looked at herself in the mirror, They taught themselves to swim. Reflexive forms are used when the referent of the subject and the object is the same, and they can also be used for emphasis in certain constructions. They are not required with all verbs, and their use can be optional in some contexts.

Across languages, reflexives take different forms. In Romance languages, se appears in Spanish and French with reflexive verbs such as levantarse or se laver. German uses sich (and other forms) to indicate reflexivity, while English relies on separate pronouns. Some languages attach reflexivity to the verb via affixes rather than a separate pronoun. Japanese uses a reflexive noun such as jibun to mark self-reference in many sentences. In many languages, reflexivity interacts with syntax and morphology in ways that differ from English.

Reciprocal reflexives express actions between two or more participants, roughly meaning “each other” or “one another”: They looked at each other. Some languages encode reciprocity with dedicated forms or constructions, while others rely on context or periphrasis.