reflexive pronoun

reflexive pronoun

English

Noun

reflexive pronoun (plural reflexive pronouns)

1. (grammar) In English: a personal pronoun, having a form of "self" as a suffix to show that the subject's action affects the subject itself.
2. (grammar) In many languages: a pronoun that makes a transitive verb reflexive or reciprocal.

   Spanish: Él se lavó — He washed (himself).

   Él lavó — He washed (something).

   Russian: Он помы́лся — He washed (himself).

   Он помы́л — He washed (something).

Usage notes

While English distinguishes neatly between reflexive pronouns and reciprocal pronouns (such as “each other”), in many languages this is not the case. Reflexive pronouns in these languages can also express reciprocal senses when the context is unambiguous. Such pronouns are still commonly referred to as reflexive pronouns although they are not “reflexive” in the strict sense of the word.

Derived terms

• reflexive possessive pronoun

Translations

a part of speech

Arabic: ضَمِير اِنْعِكَاسِيّ‎ m (ḍamīr inʿikāsiyy) Bulgarian: възвратно местоимение n (vǎzvratno mestoimenie) Chinese: Mandarin: 反身代詞／反身代词 (zh) (fǎnshēn dàicí) Czech: zvratné zájmeno n, reflexivum n Danish: refleksiv pronomen Dutch: wederkerend voornaamwoord (nl) n Esperanto: refleksiva pronomo, refleksivo (eo) Faroese: afturbent fornavn n Finnish: refleksiivipronomini (fi) French: pronom réfléchi (fr) m Georgian: უკუქცევითი ნაცვალსახელი (uḳukceviti nacvalsaxeli) German: Reflexivpronomen (de) n, Reflexivum (de) n, rückbezügliches Fürwort (de) n Greek: αυτοπαθής αντωνυμία f (aftopathís antonymía) Hungarian: visszaható névmás Icelandic: afturbeygt fornafn n Italian: pronome riflessivo (it) Japanese: 再帰代名詞 (さいきだいめいし, saiki daimeishi) Korean: 재귀대명사(再歸代名詞) (ko) (jaegwidaemyeongsa) Norwegian: refleksiv pronomen Polish: zaimek zwrotny m Portuguese: pronome reflexivo m Romanian: pronume reflexiv (ro) n Russian: возвра́тное местоиме́ние (ru) n (vozvrátnoje mestoiménije) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: повратна заменица f Roman: povratna zamenica f Slovak: zvratné zámeno n Spanish: pronombre reflexivo (es) m Swedish: reflexivt pronomen (sv) Turkish: dönüşlülük zarfı Welsh: rhagenw atblygol m

See also

• myself
• thyself
• oneself
• ourself
• ourselves
• yourself
• yourselves
• himself
• herself
• itself
• themself
• themselves