Reflexive pronouns — mich, dich, sich

Reflexive pronouns show up when the subject and the object are the same person. "I wash myself." "She hurt herself." German uses them in a LOT more places than English does — because many common everyday verbs are officially reflexive in German and don't work without the pronoun.

The forms

For most subjects, the reflexive pronoun is just the regular Akkusativ or Dativ pronoun. The only new form is sich, which serves for er/sie/es, sie (plural), and Sie (formal).

So, for most persons, it's exactly the pronoun table from earlier. Only sich is new — and it covers FOUR separate cells, which is generous.

Always-reflexive verbs (a short essential list)

Some verbs only work with a reflexive pronoun — drop it and the sentence breaks. These are vocabulary items to learn as a unit: verb + sich.

Akkusativ vs. Dativ reflexives

How do you know which case to use? Whatever case the verb takes in general. For most reflexive verbs, you just learn which one it is as part of the vocabulary.

Two useful patterns:

1) Body-part verbs use Dativ reflexive when there's another Akkusativ object.

2) German uses reflexive where English drops the pronoun entirely.

Many verbs that English simplifies to a one-word verb require a reflexive in German. You have to adjust.

Reflexive vs. reciprocal

Plural reflexives double as "each other" markers. Wir sehen uns can mean "we see ourselves" (in a mirror) OR "we see each other" (reciprocally). Context decides 99% of the time. If you need to be explicit, add gegenseitig (mutually) or uns selbst ("ourselves personally").

Position in the sentence

In a normal V2 main clause, the reflexive pronoun goes right after the conjugated verb, before most other elements.

In inversion/question form, the reflexive can come right after the subject pronoun:

Common mistakes, named

1. Dropping the reflexive because English doesn't have one. Ich fühle gut. ❌ → Ich fühle mich gut. ✓ sich fühlen is a fixed reflexive verb. No pronoun, no sentence.

2. Using sich for the wrong person. Ich setze sich. ❌ → Ich setze mich. ✓ sich is only er/sie/es/they/Sie.

3. Mixing Akk and Dativ reflexives. Ich wasche mich die Hände. ❌ → Ich wasche mir die Hände. ✓ Whenever there's an Akk object, body-part reflexives go Dativ.

4. Putting the reflexive at the end. Ich entscheide heute mich. ❌ → Ich entscheide mich heute. ✓ Reflexive sticks to the verb.

Mini check

Where this leads

Back to the pronoun family — the standalone possessive forms you use when you're NOT placing a noun right after.

Next up: Possessivpronomen — meiner, deiner, seiner.

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