Reflexive simply means that the object of
the verb is the same person as the subject — what
English would mark with -self: Er wäscht
ihn — "He is washing him";
Er wäscht
sich — "He is washing himself".
With the first we use a personal pronoun, and with the second
a reflexive one.
- Er wäscht ihn.
— he washes him (somebody else)
- Er wäscht sich.
— he washes himself
- Ich sehe ihn.
— I see him
- Ich sehe mich.
— I see myself
The verb decides which case its object takes. For example, sehen (to see) takes the
accusative while helfen (to help)
takes the dative. English marks
neither of them, so the case has to be learnt together with the verb.
- Ich sehe ihn.
— I see him
- Ich helfe ihm.
— I help him
- Ich sehe sie.
— I see her
- Ich helfe ihr.
— I help her
ihn and
ihm differ only by one letter:
n for the
accusative,
m for the
dative. In English we would always just use
him. In German, depending on the case, we need to choose one of ihn or ihm.
- Sie sieht ihn.
— she sees him
- Sie hilft ihm.
— she helps him
- Ich wasche ihn.
— I wash him
All third-person
pronouns except he use
the same word in the
nominative and the
accusative:
es stays es,
sie stays sie.
er → ihn is the only form that changes.
- Er sieht sie.
— he sees her
- Sie sieht ihn.
— she sees him
- Sie sieht es.
— she sees it
- Es sieht sie.
— it sees her
- Es sieht sie.
— it sees them
If you're already familiar with declensions: the
third-person pronouns end with the same letter! This helps to memorize. For example, whatever ending
der/die/das takes for a gender and a case, the pronoun ends the same way.
- er ·
der —
nominative
masculine
- ihn ·
den —
accusative
masculine
- ihm ·
dem —
dative
masculine &
neuter
- es ·
das —
nominative/accusative
neuter
- sie ·
die —
nom./acc.
feminine &
plural
- ihr ·
der —
dative
feminine
- ihnen ·
den —
dative
plural
In the singular, 1st and 2nd person are consistent with their endings:
-ch
in the accusative,
-r in the
dative. mich, dich ·
mir, dir. Very easy to remember!
- Er sieht mich.
— he sees me
- Er hilft mir.
— he helps me
- Ich sehe dich.
— I see you
- Ich helfe dir.
— I help you
1st and 2nd person have no new words
for reflexive — mich is me and
myself both, mir is "to me"
and "to myself". The reflexive is
simply the personal pronoun again.
- Er wäscht mich.
— he washes me
- Ich wasche mich.
— I wash myself
- Ich wasche dich.
— I wash you
- Du wäschst dich.
— you wash yourself
uns and
euch are the easiest: one single
word across the accusative and the
dative,
personal and
reflexive alike.
- Er sieht uns.
— he sees us
- Er hilft uns.
— he helps us
- Wir waschen uns.
— we wash ourselves
- Wir kaufen uns ein Buch.
— we buy ourselves a book
- Ich sehe euch.
— I see y'all
- Ich helfe euch.
— I help y'all
- Ihr wascht euch.
— y'all wash yourselves
- Ihr kauft euch ein Buch.
— y'all buy yourselves a book
Every third-person pronoun, along with
you-formal
turns into sich the moment it points
back at its own subject, accusative
and dative at once. One word for
all four of them.
- Er wäscht sich.
— he washes himself
- Er kauft sich ein Buch.
— he buys himself a book
- Es wäscht sich.
— it washes itself (das Kind)
- Es kauft sich ein Buch.
— it buys itself a book
- Sie wäscht sich.
— she washes herself
- Sie kauft sich ein Buch.
— she buys herself a book
- Sie waschen sich.
— they wash themselves
- Sie kaufen sich ein Buch.
— they buy themselves a book
- Waschen Sie sich?
— are you washing yourself?
- Kaufen Sie sich ein Buch?
— are you buying yourself a book?
On its own the reflexive is
accusative, but as soon as the
sentence already has an accusative object it steps aside into the
dative —
mich becomes
mir. Third person never notices, since
sich is both.
- Ich wasche mich.
— I wash myself
- Ich kaufe mir ein Buch.
— I buy myself a book
- Du kaufst dir ein Buch.
— you buy yourself a book
- Er kauft sich ein Buch.
— he buys himself a book
One word, three jobs:
sie is she,
sie is they, and capitalised
Sie is you (formal). In the nominative the verb
can usually help you to tell apart the singular from the plural or formal — e.g. sieht is singular, sehen is plural.
If sie is not the first word, you can tell apart they from formal you by whether the S is upper or lower case.
However, when Sie is the first word, you still can't tell apart the formal you from the plural they.
- Sie sieht mich.
— she sees me
- Sie sehen mich.
— they see me
- Sie sehen mich.
— you see me (formal)
You-formal borrows every form from
they:
Sie,
sich,
Ihnen. Only the capital
S and
I set the two apart on paper — and
out loud, nothing does.
- Sie sehen ihn.
— they see him
- Ich helfe ihnen.
— I help them
- Ich helfe Ihnen.
— I help you (formal)
ihr shows up twice in unrelated
places: y'all in the
nominative, and
her in the
dative.
- Ihr seht mich.
— y'all see me
- Ich helfe ihr.
— I help her
- Ihr helft ihr.
— y'all help her