Reflexive & reciprocal pronouns in English

Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns both refer back to people or things in a sentence, but they show different relationships. Reflexive pronouns such as myself, yourself, or themselves are used when the person or thing performing the action is also affected by that action. The reciprocal pronouns each other and one another are used when two or more people or things perform an action towards the other person or people involved.

What are reflexive pronouns?

Reflexive pronouns show that the person or thing performing an action (the subject) is also the person or thing affected by that action (the object).

Reflexive pronoun forms

Each subject pronoun has a reflexive pronoun form used in the object position in a sentence:

Singular they: themselves or themself

Traditionally, themselves has been the standard reflexive pronoun for singular indeterminate people (e.g., someone, a person, a teacher, etc), but in more recent times, themself has increased in usage and popularity as many people prefer the singular suffix -self over the plural -selves when referring to a singular indeterminate person. For example:

• A person hurt themselves/themself yesterday.
• We need a teacher who can stand up for themselves/themself.
• They hired someone who taught themselves/themself coding.
• A customer could trip over that loose cable and injure themselves/themself.

When to use reflexive pronouns?

Use a reflexive pronoun as the object when the subject and the object of the verb refer to the same person or thing:

• I hurt myself playing football.
• You embarrassed yourself at the party.
• He cut himself shaving.
• The cat licked itself.
• We didn’t doubt ourselves for a minute.
• They enjoyed themselves on holiday.

A reflexive pronoun can also be an indirect object when the person receiving something is the same as the subject:

• We wrote ourselves a reminder. / We wrote a reminder to ourselves.
• They taught themselves Spanish.
• I made myself a birthday cake. / I made a birthday cake for myself.
• He bought himself a new car. / He bought a new car for himself.

Likewise, use a reflexive pronoun after a preposition when its object refers to the same person or thing as the subject and the action, thought or feeling is directed towards that person or thing:

• She looked at herself in the mirror.
• You should be proud of yourself.
• He was talking to himself in the hallway.
• You’ll be disappointed in yourselves if you don’t pass the exam.

However, when the object of the preposition is not the target or focus of the action, thought or feeling, but simply provides additional information, such as a location or who accompanies someone, use an ordinary object pronoun:

• She put her bag down beside her.
• He looked behind him.
• They could hear people above them.
• Can I bring a friend with me?

Reflexive pronouns for emphasis

A reflexive pronoun can emphasise that a particular person or thing personally performed an action, especially if that might be surprising or particularly impressive:

• I painted this myself.
• Did you make this yourself?
• We wrote this book ourselves.
• David baked this cake himself.

The reflexive pronoun can also appear directly after the person or thing being emphasised in the sentence:

• I myself will be giving the presentation.
• The president himself gave the order.
• Sherlock and Watson themselves will be helping us solve this case.
• You yourself will explain to the boss what went wrong.

In this use, the reflexive pronoun adds emphasis rather than changing who performs or receives the action.

By + reflexive pronoun / on + possessive adjective + own

We can use by + reflexive pronoun to mean that someone is alone, with nobody else present. This has the same meaning as on + possessive adjective + own:

• She lives by herself. / She lives on her own.
• I ate dinner by myself. / I ate dinner on my own.
• They travelled by themselves. / They travelled on their own.
• We walked on the beach by ourselves. / We walked on the beach on our own.

These two structures can also mean without help:

• I repaired the bike by myself. / I repaired the bike on my own.
• The children made breakfast by themselves. / The children made breakfast on their own.
• Can you do it by yourself? / Can you do it on your own?
• We tidied the house by ourselves. / We tidied the house on our own.

When not to use reflexive pronouns?

There are certain situations where learners use reflexive pronouns when English does not use them. The sections below outline some of the common times reflexive pronouns are used when they should not be.

Do not use reflexive pronouns instead of subject or object pronouns

When used as the object of a verb or preposition, a reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the sentence. A reflexive pronoun cannot stand alone as the subject, and when the object refers to a different person or thing, we use an ordinary object pronoun instead. For example:

• ❌ Myself will attend the meeting. (reflexive pronouns cannot be subjects)
• ✅ I will attend the meeting.
• ❌ Daniel sent the report to myself. (the reflexive pronoun does not match the subject)
• ✅ Daniel sent the report to me.

In British workplace English, it is common to hear reflexive pronouns such as myself and yourself used instead of ordinary subject or object pronouns, particularly when people want to sound more formal or polite. For example:

• ⚠️ Rachel and myself wrote the report.
• ✅ Rachel and I wrote the report.
• ⚠️ Karl and yourself will be attending the morning meetings.
• ✅ Karl and you will be attending the morning meetings.
• ⚠️ Thomas can always speak to myself or his line manager if he has a problem.
• ✅ Thomas can always speak to me or his line manager if he has a problem.

Although these constructions are widely used by native speakers, many people still consider them incorrect, so you should avoid them in situations where your English is being assessed, especially in exams.

Verbs that do not need reflexive pronouns in English

Some languages, including Spanish, French and German, use reflexive pronouns with many verbs that do not need them in English. As a result, learners sometimes incorrectly add myself, yourself, himself and other reflexive pronouns, or ordinary object pronouns such as me, him and her, when using these verbs. In English, the following verbs and expressions do not need a reflexive pronoun to express their ordinary meanings.

1. Personal care and daily routines

Do not add a reflexive pronoun when describing routine activities that people perform on themselves. Common verbs in this category are wash, shave, shower, dress, undress, and change:

• I washed before breakfast.
• He shaves every morning.
• She dressed quickly.
• I’ll change before dinner.

However, a reflexive pronoun can be used with verbs such as wash, dress and shave to emphasise that someone performs the action on themselves, particularly when doing so without help is important:

• After the accident, he couldn’t dress himself.
• She’s only three, but she can already wash herself.

2. Movement and changes of position

English also uses many verbs and expressions for body movements and changes of position without reflexive pronouns such as wake up, get up, sit down, stand up, lie down, go to bed, turn around and fall asleep:

• I woke up at seven.
• He sat down on the sofa.
• They’ve gone to lie down.
• She turned around when she heard her name.

Some movement verbs can also be used with reflexive pronouns to emphasise a deliberate action or draw attention to how someone moves or positions their body:

• He sat himself down at the table and opened the letter.
• She settled herself into a comfortable armchair.
• He stretched himself out on the sofa.
• She hid herself behind the curtain.

In ordinary descriptions, these verbs do not need reflexive pronouns. The reflexive forms add emphasis or detail to the action.

3. Thoughts, feelings and other actions

Many other common English verbs do not use reflexive pronouns even when their equivalents in other languages do such as remember, relax, concentrate, rest, feel, worry, complain, hurry, realise, meet, get married or be called:

• ❌ He relaxed himself on the beach.
• ✅ He relaxed on the beach.
• ❌ She feels herself proud.
• ✅ She feels proud.
• ❌ I remember me when I was at school.
• ✅ I remember when I was at school.

What are reciprocal pronouns?

When there are two or more people or things in a subject, and they perform an action on the other one or ones, we show this by using reciprocal pronouns.

In English, there are two reciprocal pronouns:

• each other
• one another

Each other and one another have the same meaning and can both be used when two or more people or things perform an action towards the other. Each other is more common in everyday English.

Like reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronouns can be used as the object of a verb:

• Tom and Anna help each other. (Tom helped Anna and Anna helped Tom)
• The two teams congratulated one another. (One team congratulated the other team and the other team congratulated the first team)
• We met each other at university.
• You should know one another well by now.

They can also be used as the object of a preposition:

• We looked at each other and laughed.
• These companies compete with one another.
• You need to look out for each other.
• We learned a lot from one another.

Reciprocal pronouns cannot be used as the subject of a sentence:

• ❌ Each other helped with the work.
• ✅ They helped each other with the work.

Each other’s and one another’s to show possession

Use each other’s and one another’s before a noun to show reciprocal possession:

• We borrowed each other’s notes.
• They know one another’s families.
• The students checked each other’s answers.
• You must know one another’s secrets.

Reflexive or reciprocal pronouns?

When there is a plural subject, it can sometimes be confusing when to use the reflexive pronouns ourselves, yourselves, or themselves and when to use the reciprocal pronouns each other and one another. Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns are not synonymous, and using the wrong one will change the focus of your sentence.

Look at the pairs of sentences below. Notice how the meaning changes depending on whether you use a reflexive pronoun or a reciprocal pronoun:

• They looked at themselves. (each person looked at themselves, for example in a mirror)
• They looked at each other. (each person looked at the other person)
• We bought ourselves gifts for Christmas. (each person bought a gift for themself, but not for the other people)
• We bought each other gifts for Christmas. (each person bought a gift for the other people)
• They blamed themselves. (each person accepted responsibility for their own actions)
• They blamed each other. (each person blamed the other people)

Free reflexive & reciprocal pronouns worksheets