Reflexive Basics — Myself, Yourself, Themselves
Learn the eight reflexive pronouns and when subject and object refer to the same person, plus fixed verb phrases like 'enjoy yourself' and 'help yourself' that always take a reflexive. Multiple-choice and context-bank exercises.
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She looked at ___ in the mirror for a long time.
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herself
The subject (she) and object are the same person — use the reflexive 'herself'.
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I accidentally cut ___ while I was chopping onions.
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myself
The subject (I) and object are the same — use the reflexive 'myself'.
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He taught ___ to play the guitar from online videos.
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himself
The subject (he) and object are the same — use the reflexive 'himself'.
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The children drew funny pictures of ___.
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themselves
The reflexive form for 'they' is 'themselves' — 'theirselves' is not a word.
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Be careful with that knife — don't hurt ___!
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yourself
The reflexive form for one 'you' is 'yourself'.
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We organised the whole party ___, without any help.
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ourselves
The reflexive form for 'we' is 'ourselves' — 'ourself' is not standard.
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The cat was calmly cleaning ___ on the sofa.
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itself
The reflexive form for 'it' is 'itself'.
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Help ___ to some cake, everyone — there's plenty!
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yourselves
'Everyone' is addressed as plural here, so use 'yourselves'.
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Maria introduced ___ to all the new colleagues.
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herself
The subject (Maria) and object are the same — use 'herself'.
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He looked at ___ in the shop window and smiled.
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himself
The subject (he) and object are the same — use 'himself'.
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We treated ___ to a lovely dinner after the exam.
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ourselves
The reflexive form for 'we' is 'ourselves'.
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You did really well — you should be proud of ___.
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yourself
The reflexive form for one 'you' is 'yourself'.
Reflexive Pronoun Basics: Building the Eight Forms
The core rule for reflexive pronouns is co-reference: use a reflexive pronoun when the subject and the object of a verb refer to the same person or thing. 'She looked at herself in the mirror' — the person looking and the person seen are identical. Each subject pronoun has one fixed reflexive counterpart, built from the object pronoun (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) plus -self or -selves — never from a possessive pronoun. This is why 'hisself' and 'theirselves' are common but incorrect: the base must be himself and themselves, not 'his' or 'their'. Beyond simple co-reference, a small set of verbs — including 'enjoy' and 'help' — form fixed phrases with a reflexive pronoun even though the action doesn't obviously reflect back onto the subject: 'enjoy yourself' means 'have a good time', not literally 'enjoy your own company'.
Forming the Reflexive: Object Pronoun + -self/-selves
he → himself (not hisself) — she → herself — it → itself
we → ourselves (not ourself) — they → themselves (not theirselves)
Reflexive Verbs in Everyday Contexts
The reflexive appears whenever the subject's action lands back on the subject: looking in a mirror, causing yourself an injury, or doing something without outside help.
I accidentally cut myself while I was chopping onions.
He taught himself to play the guitar from online videos.
We organised the whole party ourselves, without any help.
Maria introduced herself to all the new colleagues.
Enjoy Yourself, Help Yourself — Fixed Reflexive Phrases
Some verbs always take a reflexive pronoun as part of a fixed expression, regardless of context. 'Enjoy' is one of the clearest examples, and it directly contrasts with verbs that never take a reflexive (see the next subtopic).
Help yourselves to some cake, everyone — there's plenty!
Common Mistakes
✗ We organised the party ourself. → ✓ We organised the party ourselves. ('ourself' is not standard)
✗ Help yourself, everyone — there's plenty! → ✓ Help yourselves, everyone. ('everyone' addressed as a group)
✗ Did you enjoy at the party? → ✓ Did you enjoy yourself at the party? ('enjoy' needs a reflexive)
✗ The cat was cleaning it on the sofa. → ✓ … cleaning itself. (reflexive for 'it')
Last updated: · Satori Editorial