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 inʕikāsiyy)
• Belarusian: зваро́тны займе́ннік m (zvarótny zajmjénnik)
• Bulgarian: възвра́тно местоиме́ние n (vǎzvrátno mestoiménie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反身代詞／反身代词 (zh) (fǎnshēn dàicí)

• Czech: zvratné zájmeno n, reflexivum n
• Danish: refleksiv pronomen n
• Dutch: wederkerend voornaamwoord (nl) n
• Esperanto: refleksiva pronomo, refleksivo (eo)
• Estonian: enesekohane asesõna
• 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 (hu)
• Icelandic: afturbeygt fornafn n
• Italian: pronome riflessivo (it) m
• Japanese: 再帰代名詞 (ja) (さいきだいめいし, saiki daimeishi)
• Korean: 재귀대명사(再歸代名詞) (ko) (jaegwidaemyeongsa)
• Macedonian: повратна заменка f (povratna zamenka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: refleksiv pronomen n

• Polish: zaimek zwrotny m
• Portuguese: pronome reflexivo m, pronome reflexo 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
• Slovene: povratni zaimek m
• Spanish: pronombre reflexivo (es) m
• Swedish: reflexiv pronomen n
• Tajik: ҷонишини нафсӣ (jonišini nafsī)
• Turkish: dönüşlülük zarfı
• Ukrainian: зворо́тний займе́нник m (zvorótnyj zajménnyk)
• Welsh: rhagenw atblygol m

See also

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