A reflexive construction is one where the subject acts on itself: I wash myself, she hurt herself. The headline fact for English speakers is that Afrikaans has no special reflexive pronoun. Where English bolts on -self and Dutch reaches for the dedicated word zich, Afrikaans simply recycles the ordinary object pronouns you already know — my, jou, hom, haar, ons, julle, hulle. So ek was my literally reads "I wash me" and means "I wash myself". This page is about how reflexive verbs work in practice; for the pronoun forms in isolation see reflexive pronouns.
The reflexive pronouns are just the object pronouns
There is no extra paradigm to learn. The reflexive form is identical to the object form for every person.
| Subject | Reflexive (= object pronoun) | English |
|---|---|---|
| ek | my | myself |
| jy | jou | yourself |
| u (formal) | u | yourself |
| hy | hom | himself |
| sy | haar | herself |
| 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.
Sy het haar gewas voor sy uitgegaan het.
She washed herself before she went out.
Ek voel my vandag glad nie lekker nie.
I really don't feel well today.
The pronoun simply tracks the subject: ek ... my, jy ... jou, sy ... haar, hulle ... hulle. That is the entire system. Ek voel my siek ("I feel myself sick" → "I feel ill") shows the reflexive even where English drops it entirely.
Three kinds of reflexive verb
It helps to sort reflexive uses into three groups, because English speakers treat them very differently.
1. Optional reflexives — verbs that can take any object, including a reflexive one. Was (wash) is the classic: you can wash the dishes, wash the dog, or wash yourself. When the object happens to be reflexive, you just use the object pronoun.
Sy was die hond, daarna was sy haar.
She washes the dog, then she washes herself.
2. Inherently reflexive verbs — a closed set that always requires the reflexive pronoun, even though English uses a plain intransitive verb. Skaam (be ashamed), haas (hurry), bekommer (worry), verbeel (imagine) belong here. Ek skaam alone is broken; it must be ek skaam my.
Sy skaam haar oor wat sy gesê het.
She's ashamed of what she said.
Moenie jou bekommer nie — alles sal regkom.
Don't worry — everything will be fine.
These are worth memorising as a set, because they are exactly the verbs where English gives you no cue that a pronoun is needed. They get a page of their own: inherently reflexive verbs.
3. Reflexive-of-emphasis — where you add -self to insist on "self, not someone else". This is the topic two sections down.
Position: the reflexive sits where an object sits
The reflexive pronoun occupies the ordinary object slot. In a main clause it comes right after the finite verb; in the perfect it sits inside the verb bracket, before the participle.
Hy skeer hom elke dag voor werk.
He shaves (himself) every day before work.
Sy het haar by die mes beseer.
She hurt herself on the knife.
Hulle geniet hulle by die see.
They're enjoying themselves at the seaside.
In the imperative the pronoun follows the verb directly: Was jou hande (wash your hands), Gedra jou (behave yourself). With negation the closing nie wraps the clause as usual: moenie jou bekommer nie.
The built-in ambiguity, and how -self resolves it
Because Afrikaans reuses the object pronoun, hy sien hom is genuinely ambiguous: "he sees him" (another man) or "he sees himself" (in a mirror). Dutch never has this problem — zich (himself) and hem (him) are different words. Afrikaans patched the gap with a single word and pays for it with this ambiguity, which context usually settles. With grooming and self-care verbs (was, skeer, aantrek) the reflexive reading is the default; hy skeer hom is understood as "he shaves himself" unless context says otherwise.
When you must force the reflexive reading, or add emphasis, you attach -self, written solid: myself, jouself, homself, haarself, onsself, julleself, hulleself.
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 must wash yourself, not the dog.
The same -self also gives plain emphasis — "(I) myself", the speaker insisting on the very person — and in that use it can even attach to the subject: ek doen dit self / ekself.
Ek het dit self gedoen, sonder hulp.
I did it myself, without help.
A caution that trips learners: an inherent reflexive like haas takes the plain pronoun, not the -self form. It is haas jou! ("hurry up!"), never haas jouself. Save -self for disambiguation and emphasis, not for the inherent verbs.
Not to be confused with mekaar ("each other")
A plural reflexive (hulle was hulle — "they wash themselves", each their own body) is different from the reciprocal mekaar ("each other"). Hulle help mekaar means each helps the other, across the group, not each helping their own self. English keeps these apart too, so the logic transfers — just don't let mekaar slip into the reflexive slot.
Ons help mekaar met die huiswerk.
We help each other with the homework.
Common mistakes
❌ Sy skaam zich oor haar foute.
Incorrect — Afrikaans has no zich; use the object pronoun haar.
✅ Sy skaam haar oor haar foute.
She's ashamed of her mistakes.
❌ Ek voel siek vandag. (when meaning 'I feel ill in myself')
Many speakers add the reflexive: ek voel my siek; the bare version shifts the nuance.
✅ Ek voel my vandag siek.
I feel ill today.
❌ Sy het haar self beseer.
Wrong spelling for the reflexive object — write it solid: haarself.
✅ Sy het haarself beseer.
She hurt herself.
❌ Hulle geniet hulleself by die see. (meaning 'they enjoy each other')
Hulleself = themselves individually; for 'each other' use mekaar.
✅ Hulle geniet hulle by die see.
They're enjoying themselves at the seaside.
❌ Hy was haar elke oggend. (meaning 'he washes himself')
Wrong pronoun — the reflexive must agree with the subject hy, so it is hom.
✅ Hy was hom elke oggend.
He washes himself every morning.
Key takeaways
- Afrikaans has no dedicated reflexive pronoun like Dutch zich; it reuses the ordinary object forms — my, jou, hom, haar, ons, julle, hulle.
- The pronoun must agree with the subject: ek ... my, sy ... haar, hulle ... hulle.
- Reflexives come in three kinds: optional (sy was haar), inherent (ek skaam my — mandatory, see inherently reflexive verbs), and emphatic with -self.
- Because the object pronoun is reused, hom is ambiguous between "him" and "himself"; add -self (solid: homself, haarself) to force the reflexive or to emphasise.
- Keep the reflexive apart from the reciprocal mekaar ("each other"): hulle help mekaar, not hulle help hulleself.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Reflexive Pronouns and -selfB1 — Afrikaans has no dedicated reflexive like Dutch zich — the ordinary object pronoun does the job (ek was my, hy skeer hom), -self adds emphasis or disambiguates, and mekaar means 'each other'.
- 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).