siebie

Siebie is a Polish reflexive pronoun used to refer back to the subject of a clause. It functions as the object of a verb or of a preposition when the action is directed at the subject itself, equivalent to the English “oneself” or “himself/herself.” The word has distinct forms for different cases: siebie in the genitive and accusative, sobie in the dative and after prepositions that require the local forms, and sobą in the instrumental. In some contexts, o sobie is used with the preposition o.

In practice, siebie and its related forms appear most often with transitive verbs or with phrases that express actions performed on oneself. Examples include Umyłem sobie ręce (I washed my hands for myself), Kupiłem sobie prezent (I bought a present for myself), and Zgadzam się, że zrobiłem to sobie (I agree that I did this for myself). The prepositional form o sobie is used in statements like Mówię o sobie (I speak about myself).

Siebie is distinguished from the clitic reflexive pronoun się, which is used with many verbs to indicate reflexive action without specifying a direct object. Both forms can express related ideas, but in certain constructions the genitive/accusative pribadi siebie is preferred or required, and after certain verbs or prepositions the form sobie or o sobie is used. Some verbs take one form more naturally than the other, and speakers may choose for emphasis or idiomatic reasons.

Overall, siebie and its variants are central to expressing reflexive meaning in Polish, with usage governed by case, the verb’s transitivity, and the syntactic role of the reflexive element.