Verbs That Don't Take a Reflexive — Feel, Relax, Concentrate, Meet
Learn the everyday English verbs — shave, feel, concentrate, relax, hurry, meet — that never take a reflexive pronoun, even though many languages use a reflexive form for the same idea. Dropdown exercises to break the transfer habit.
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He ___ every morning before he goes to work.
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shaves
'Shave' is used without a reflexive — say 'he shaves', not 'he shaves himself'.
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After the long holiday, she ___ much more relaxed.
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felt
'Feel' is used without a reflexive — 'she felt relaxed', not 'felt herself'.
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It is very hard to ___ with all this noise around me.
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concentrate
'Concentrate' is used without a reflexive pronoun.
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At the weekend I just want to ___ at home and read.
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relax
'Relax' is used without a reflexive pronoun.
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There's no need to ___ — we have plenty of time.
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hurry
'Hurry' is used without a reflexive pronoun.
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Let's ___ outside the cinema at seven o'clock.
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meet
'Meet' is used without a reflexive pronoun.
Verbs That Reject the Reflexive Pronoun
A small group of very common English verbs describe an action that affects the subject but never take a reflexive pronoun — unlike their equivalents in many other languages, which mark the same idea reflexively. Shave, feel, concentrate, relax, hurry, and meet are used on their own: 'he shaves', 'she felt relaxed', 'concentrate on your work', 'relax at home', 'there's no need to hurry', 'let's meet outside the cinema'. Adding a reflexive pronoun to any of these verbs — 'he shaves himself', 'relax yourself', 'meet ourselves' — produces a sentence that is grammatically odd in English even though the equivalent structure is normal in languages that mark reflexive verbs morphologically. There is no shortcut rule based on meaning alone: which verbs take a reflexive and which don't has to be learned verb by verb, through exposure and correction, rather than derived from logic.
Six Verbs That Never Take a Reflexive
After the long holiday, she felt much more relaxed. (not: felt herself)
It is very hard to concentrate with all this noise around me. (not: concentrate myself)
At the weekend I just want to relax at home and read. (not: relax myself)
There's no need to hurry — we have plenty of time. (not: hurry yourself)
Let's meet outside the cinema at seven o'clock. (not: meet ourselves)
Why the Reflexive Feels 'Missing'
In many languages, verbs like 'relax' and 'concentrate' are built with a reflexive marker because the action is conceptually something you do to yourself. English packages the same meaning into an intransitive verb instead, with no object at all. Treating these English verbs as if they needed an object — and reaching for a reflexive pronoun to fill that slot — is one of the most persistent transfer errors at B1–B2 level, and it does not disappear automatically with general fluency gains; it requires targeted practice with this specific list of verbs.
Common Mistakes
✗ After the holiday, she felt herself much more relaxed. → ✓ she felt much more relaxed.
✗ It is hard to concentrate myself with all this noise. → ✓ hard to concentrate.
✗ I just want to relax myself at home. → ✓ I just want to relax at home.
✗ There's no need to hurry yourself. → ✓ There's no need to hurry.
✗ Let's meet ourselves outside the cinema. → ✓ Let's meet outside the cinema.
Last updated: · Satori Editorial