A reflexive pronoun is what you use when the subject and the object are the same person: I wash myself, she hurt herself. English marks this with a special -self word, and Dutch marks it with the dedicated pronoun zich. Afrikaans does neither by default. It simply reuses the ordinary object pronoun — the same my, jou, hom, haar you already learned for "me, you, him, her" on subject and object pronouns. So ek was my literally reads "I wash me" and means "I wash myself". This is one of the cleaner simplifications Afrikaans made over Dutch, but it creates one ambiguity that -self and mekaar exist to resolve.
The reflexive set: just the object pronouns
There is no separate reflexive paradigm to memorise. The reflexive forms are the object forms.
| Subject | Reflexive (= object form) | English |
|---|---|---|
| ek | my | myself |
| jy | jou | yourself |
| u (formal) | u | yourself |
| hy | hom | himself |
| sy | haar | herself |
| dit | dit / homself | itself |
| ons | ons | ourselves |
| julle | julle | yourselves |
| hulle | hulle | themselves |
Ek was my elke oggend in koue water.
I wash myself in cold water every morning.
Hy skeer hom elke dag voor werk.
He shaves (himself) every day before work.
Was jou hande voor ons eet.
Wash your hands before we eat.
Notice in the second sentence: hom here means "himself", not "him". Hy skeer hom does not mean "he shaves someone else" in normal context — with a grooming verb the reflexive reading is the default. That reuse of hom is the whole system, and also its one weakness, which we come to next.
The ambiguity: hom is "him" and "himself"
Because Afrikaans reuses the object pronoun, a sentence like Hy sien hom is genuinely ambiguous out of context. It can mean "he sees him" (some other man) or "he sees himself" (in a mirror). Dutch never has this problem — hij ziet zich (himself) and hij ziet hem (him) are different words. Afrikaans patched the same gap with one word, and pays for it with this ambiguity.
Hy sien hom in die spieël.
He sees himself in the mirror. (or, with the right context, 'he sees him')
In practice context usually settles it. But when you need to force the reflexive reading — "himself, not some other person" — you add -self.
-self: emphasis and disambiguation
The suffix -self attaches directly to the pronoun, written as one solid word: myself, jouself, homself, haarself, onsself, julleself, hulleself. It does two jobs.
First, it forces the true reflexive reading where the bare pronoun would be ambiguous:
Hy sien homself in die spieël.
He sees himself in the mirror. (unambiguous — no other man)
Jy moet jouself was, nie die hond nie.
You have to wash yourself, not the dog.
Sy het haarself by die mes beseer.
She hurt herself on the knife.
Second, it adds emphasis — "(I) myself", the speaker insisting on the very person — exactly like English emphatic -self. In this use it can attach even to the subject pronoun, giving ekself, jyself, syself:
Ek het dit ekself gedoen, sonder hulp.
I did it myself, without help.
Die minister het dit self bevestig.
The minister himself confirmed it.
Note the last example: self can also stand alone after the noun or pronoun, meaning "(the X) himself/herself" — die minister self, ek self (with a space, two words) for plain emphasis. Written solid, ekself and homself lean toward the reflexive/intensive object; written with a space, ek self / hom self is looser emphasis. Both are current; the solid spelling is the safer default for the reflexive object.
Verbs that take a reflexive: jou skaam, jou haas
Some Afrikaans verbs are inherently reflexive: they always come with an object pronoun pointing back at the subject, even though English uses a plain intransitive verb. The two you'll meet first are jou skaam (to be ashamed) and jou haas (to hurry).
| Verb | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jou skaam | to be ashamed | Ek skaam my. |
| jou haas | to hurry | Haas jou! |
| jou verbeel | to imagine | Sy verbeel haar dinge. |
| jou gedra | to behave | Gedra jou! |
| jou bevind | to find oneself (situated) | Ons bevind ons in 'n moeilike situasie. |
Sy skaam haar oor wat sy gesê het.
She's ashamed of what she said.
Haas jou, anders is ons laat!
Hurry up, or we'll be late!
The pronoun changes with the subject: ek skaam my, jy skaam jou, hy skaam hom, sy skaam haar, ons skaam ons, hulle skaam hulle. English speakers routinely drop it ("I'm ashamed" feels complete in English), but in Afrikaans the verb is incomplete without it. The fuller list lives on inherent reflexives and reflexive verbs.
mekaar: "each other", not "themselves"
Do not confuse the reflexive with the reciprocal. Hulle was hulle would mean "they wash themselves" (each person washes their own body). "They wash each other" needs mekaar.
Ons help mekaar met die huiswerk.
We help each other with the homework.
Die twee broers vertrou mekaar volkome.
The two brothers trust each other completely.
Hulle het mekaar by die universiteit ontmoet.
They met each other at university.
So with a plural subject you have a real choice: hulleself = "themselves (each to their own self)", mekaar = "each other (across the group)". English keeps these apart too — "they blame themselves" versus "they blame each other" — so the logic transfers; just don't let mekaar slide into the reflexive slot. See the reciprocal mekaar for more.
Common mistakes
❌ Hy was zich elke oggend.
Incorrect — Afrikaans has no zich; use the object pronoun hom.
✅ Hy was hom elke oggend.
He washes himself every morning.
❌ Ek skaam.
Incorrect — skaam is inherently reflexive and needs the pronoun.
✅ Ek skaam my.
I'm ashamed.
❌ Hulle help hulleself met die werk.
Incorrect for 'help each other' — that says each helps their own self; use mekaar.
✅ Hulle help mekaar met die werk.
They help each other with the work.
❌ Sy het haar self beseer.
Incorrect spelling for the reflexive object — write it solid: haarself.
✅ Sy het haarself beseer.
She hurt herself.
❌ Haas jouself!
Overmarked — the inherent reflexive haas takes the plain object jou, not jouself.
✅ Haas jou!
Hurry up!
Key takeaways
- Afrikaans has no dedicated reflexive pronoun like Dutch zich; it reuses the ordinary object forms — my, jou, hom, haar, ons, julle, hulle.
- This makes hom ambiguous between "him" and "himself"; add -self (written solid: homself, haarself) to force the reflexive reading or to emphasise.
- -self also intensifies, attaching even to subjects: ekself, syself, die minister self — "I myself", "she herself".
- Inherently reflexive verbs — jou skaam, jou haas, jou gedra — require the pronoun; ek skaam my, never ek skaam.
- mekaar is the reciprocal "each other", distinct from the reflexive: hulle help mekaar (each other) vs hulle help hulleself (themselves).
Now practice Afrikaans
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Reflexive Verbs and PronounsB1 — Afrikaans builds reflexive constructions from the ordinary object pronouns (ek was my, sy skaam haar) — there is no special reflexive like Dutch zich — and -self adds emphasis.
- Inherently Reflexive VerbsB2 — A small closed set of Afrikaans verbs that obligatorily take a reflexive object although English does not — jou skaam (be ashamed), jou verbeel (imagine), jou haas (hurry).
- The Reciprocal: mekaarB1 — How to say 'each other' in Afrikaans with the invariant pronoun mekaar — its use as an object, with prepositions (met mekaar, na mekaar), for possession (mekaar se), and its idiomatic sequential meanings.
- Subject and Object PronounsA1 — The full Afrikaans personal pronoun set — ek/my, jy/jou, hy/hom, sy/haar and the rest — with subject and object forms and where they go in a sentence.
- Possessive Pronouns: myne, joune, syne, hareA2 — The standalone possessives — myne, joune, syne, hare, ons s'n, julle s'n, hulle s'n — that replace a whole noun phrase, as in 'Die boek is myne' (the book is mine).