Danish has a dedicated 3rd-person reflexive pronoun, sig, that English completely lacks. It means himself / herself / itself / themselves — but only when the object is the same person as the subject. Han vasker sig is "he washes himself"; de morer sig is "they enjoy themselves." English uses -self/-selves words for this; Danish uses one small word, sig, for the whole 3rd person, singular and plural alike. Getting it wrong isn't a stylistic slip — it changes who did what to whom.
The full reflexive set
In the 1st and 2nd persons, Danish has no special reflexive form: you simply reuse the ordinary object pronoun. Only the 3rd person has the special word sig.
| Subject | Reflexive object | English |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | mig | myself |
| du | dig | yourself |
| han / hun / den / det | sig | himself / herself / itself |
| vi | os | ourselves |
| I | jer | yourselves |
| de | sig | themselves |
The pattern: for jeg/du/vi/I, the reflexive is identical to the plain object pronoun (mig, dig, os, jer). For everything in the 3rd person — han, hun, den, det, and the plural de — the reflexive is sig. One word covers both 3rd-person singular and 3rd-person plural.
Jeg vasker mig hver morgen.
I wash (myself) every morning.
Du må skynde dig, ellers misser vi toget.
You'd better hurry (yourself), or we'll miss the train.
Han vasker sig i koldt vand.
He washes (himself) in cold water.
Børnene morede sig i forlystelsesparken.
The children enjoyed themselves at the amusement park.
Why sig matters: the meaning-changing contrast
This is the heart of the page. In the 3rd person, sig and the ordinary object pronouns ham/hende/dem are not interchangeable. Sig points back to the subject; ham/hende/dem point to someone else.
Han vasker sig.
He washes himself. (the same man)
Han vasker ham.
He washes him. (a different male — e.g. his son)
English collapses these onto context and word order ("he washes him" / "he washes himself"), but Danish forces the distinction into the pronoun itself. Choose sig and you mean the subject; choose ham and you have introduced a second person. There is no neutral middle.
Hun købte en gave til sig selv.
She bought a present for herself.
Hun købte en gave til hende.
She bought a present for her (some other woman).
sig selv: emphasis and the true reflexive
Adding selv to the reflexive gives sig selv — "himself/herself/themselves," with emphasis on the self. You use it when you want to stress that the action genuinely loops back onto the subject, especially to rule out a reciprocal or to contrast with someone else.
Han taler altid om sig selv.
He always talks about himself.
Hun kunne ikke se sig selv i spejlet uden briller.
She couldn't see herself in the mirror without glasses.
By the same logic, the 1st/2nd persons can add selv too: mig selv, dig selv, os selv, jer selv.
Jeg lavede det helt selv — jeg er stolt af mig selv.
I did it all by myself — I'm proud of myself.
sig vs hinanden: reflexive vs reciprocal
With a plural subject, English "themselves" is ambiguous. "They washed themselves" can mean each washed his own body (reflexive) or they washed one another (reciprocal). Danish splits these: sig is reflexive (each to themselves), hinanden is reciprocal (to each other).
De vaskede sig.
They washed themselves (each washed his own body).
De vaskede hinanden.
They washed each other.
Søskendene hjælper hinanden med lektierne.
The siblings help each other with their homework.
So when you mean one another, reach for hinanden, not sig.
Inherently reflexive verbs
A large group of everyday Danish verbs are inherently reflexive: they always carry a reflexive pronoun, even where English uses no reflexive at all. There is no "self" in the English translation, but the Danish verb still demands mig/dig/sig/os/jer.
| Danish verb | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| at skynde sig | to hurry | Skynd dig! |
| at glæde sig (til) | to look forward (to) | Jeg glæder mig til ferien. |
| at sætte sig | to sit down | Han satte sig ved bordet. |
| at lægge sig | to lie down | Hun lagde sig på sofaen. |
| at føle sig | to feel (a certain way) | Jeg føler mig træt. |
Jeg glæder mig sådan til at se dig igen.
I'm so looking forward to seeing you again.
Sæt dig ned, så laver jeg en kop kaffe.
Sit down, and I'll make a cup of coffee.
Han følte sig dårligt tilpas hele dagen.
He felt unwell all day.
The reflexive is part of the verb's identity here — drop it and the sentence is simply ungrammatical. The pronoun still agrees with the subject: jeg glæder mig, han glæder sig, vi glæder os.
A pronunciation note: sig carries stød
Sig is pronounced roughly "sigh" and carries stød, the brief glottal catch characteristic of many Danish words. This matters because it distinguishes it audibly from unstressed function words. (It does not rhyme with the English word "sig" or with Danish mig's spelling-look-alikes in the obvious way — mig and dig also have stød and the -g is silent: they sound like "my" and "dye.")
Common mistakes
Using ham/hende/dem where sig is required. The number-one error, and it changes the meaning. Han vasker ham introduces a second male.
❌ Han slog ham på knæet. (meaning: he hurt his own knee)
Incorrect for a self-action — this says he hit some other male on the knee.
✅ Han slog sig på knæet.
He hurt his (own) knee.
Using sig for the 1st or 2nd person. Sig is 3rd person only; jeg takes mig.
❌ Jeg glæder sig til weekenden.
Incorrect — with jeg the reflexive is mig, not sig.
✅ Jeg glæder mig til weekenden.
I'm looking forward to the weekend.
Using sig where hinanden (each other) is meant. Reflexive vs reciprocal are different.
❌ De kyssede sig. (meaning: they kissed each other)
Incorrect — 'each other' is hinanden; sig would mean each kissed themselves.
✅ De kyssede hinanden.
They kissed each other.
Dropping the reflexive from an inherently reflexive verb. Skynde, glæde, sætte, lægge, føle must keep their pronoun.
❌ Skynd!
Incorrect — skynde sig is inherently reflexive; it needs dig.
✅ Skynd dig!
Hurry up!
Key takeaways
- sig is the 3rd-person reflexive, singular and plural (han/hun/den/det/de); the other persons reuse object pronouns (mig, dig, os, jer).
- sig points back to the subject; ham/hende/dem point to someone else — a meaning-changing choice.
- This mirrors the sin vs hans/hendes possessive contrast — same back-to-subject logic.
- sig selv adds emphasis; hinanden means each other (reciprocal), not reflexive.
- Many common verbs are inherently reflexive (skynde sig, glæde sig, sætte sig, lægge sig, føle sig) and always keep the pronoun.
- sig carries stød and has a silent -g.
Now practice Danish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Personal Pronouns: Subject and Object FormsA1 — The Danish subject/object pronoun pairs (jeg/mig, du/dig, han/ham…), where each form goes, and the uniquely Danish capital I meaning 'you all'.
- Sin/Sit/Sine vs Hans/Hendes/DeresB2 — The reflexive possessive sin/sit/sine points back to the clause subject; hans/hendes/deres point to someone else — a meaning switch, not a style choice.
- Reciprocal Pronouns: HinandenB2 — Hinanden means 'each other'; how it differs from the reflexive sig selv and from the reciprocal -s verbs like mødes and ses — Danish's three-way system for reciprocity.
- Emphatic Selv with PronounsC1 — The three lives of selv — emphatic 'myself/himself', the true reflexive sig selv, and selv as 'even' — plus the trap of confusing selv with attributive selve.
- Danish Pronouns: An OverviewA1 — A map of the whole Danish pronoun system for English speakers: personal pronouns with subject/object case, the gendered den/det for 'it', reflexive sig, the generic man, the formal De, and the relatives der/som/hvem/hvad.
- Stød: The Danish Glottal CatchA1 — What stød is — a brief creaky catch in the voice — why it changes word meaning, and how to start producing and hearing it.