Reflexive Verbs

A reflexive verb shows that the subject and the object are the same person or thing. The action goes back to the doer. In English, this meaning is usually shown with a reflexive pronoun after the verb.

English reflexive verbs use reflexive pronouns. You choose the pronoun from the subject. The subject pronoun and the reflexive pronoun must match.

The usual pattern is subject + verb + reflexive pronoun. The reflexive pronoun comes after the verb or after the object of a preposition. This pattern shows that a person does something to the same person.

Some English verbs are often used with reflexive pronouns when the action is done to oneself. These verbs help show washing, dressing, preparing, or enjoying an action. The reflexive pronoun is part of the meaning in these patterns.

English does not use reflexive pronouns with every verb. Many verbs that are reflexive in other languages are usually not reflexive in English. For daily actions, English often uses a normal verb without a reflexive pronoun.

Usage is not always the same in all places or all meanings. Some speakers use a reflexive form to make the action more explicit, and some do not. English usually prefers no reflexive pronoun with many everyday verbs, but reflexive forms also exist in some contexts.

You can now recognize reflexive verbs in English and choose the correct reflexive pronoun for the subject. You can understand the basic pattern with subject, verb, and reflexive pronoun. You can also see that English does not always use a reflexive form, and usage can change by meaning and style.