When two or more people do something to or for each other — they love each other, help each other, write to each other — German has two ways to say it: the plural reflexive pronoun sich (and its first/second-person partners uns and euch), or the invariable word einander ("each other / one another"). After verbs that govern a preposition, the reciprocal fuses into a single word: aufeinander warten ("wait for each other"), voneinander lernen ("learn from each other"). This page shows the three patterns, the ambiguity that sich can create, and the trap English speakers fall into when they try to translate "each other" word by word.
The basic reciprocal: plural sich / uns / euch
A reciprocal needs a plural (or coordinated) subject — at least two parties acting on one another. With such a subject, the plural reflexive pronoun does double duty: it can mean themselves (reflexive) or each other (reciprocal). In everyday speech, the reciprocal reading is extremely common.
Anna und Tom lieben sich seit der Schulzeit.
Anna and Tom have loved each other since their school days.
Wir sehen uns morgen vor dem Kino.
We'll see each other tomorrow in front of the cinema.
Kennt ihr euch schon, oder soll ich euch vorstellen?
Do you two know each other already, or should I introduce you?
Notice that the form is just the ordinary plural reflexive: sich (for sie/Sie), uns (for wir), euch (for ihr). Nothing new to memorise — the reciprocal meaning rides on the existing reflexive pronouns. The case follows the verb as usual: sich lieben takes accusative sich, while a dative verb takes the dative reflexive.
Die Nachbarn helfen sich, wo sie können.
The neighbours help each other wherever they can. (helfen → dative)
Wir schreiben uns jede Woche eine lange Mail.
We write each other a long email every week. (dative recipient)
einander: the unambiguous "each other"
einander is an invariable word — it never changes form, takes no case ending, and never agrees with anything. It means strictly each other / one another, and you can use it almost anywhere the plural reflexive can sit. Its great virtue is that it cannot be misread as "themselves" — it is reciprocal and nothing else.
Anna und Tom lieben einander seit der Schulzeit.
Anna and Tom have loved each other since their school days.
Die beiden Brüder helfen einander bei jeder Gelegenheit.
The two brothers help each other at every opportunity.
Wir sollten einander öfter zuhören.
We should listen to each other more often.
In neutral modern German, sich is the everyday choice and einander sounds a touch more elevated or careful; it is common in writing, in proverbs, and whenever a speaker wants to rule out the "themselves" reading. The fixed phrase einander lives on in set expressions such as füreinander da sein ("to be there for one another") and in the church-register einander vergeben ("to forgive one another").
With prepositions, the reciprocal fuses: aufeinander, miteinander, voneinander, füreinander
This is the part that has no English analogue and that learners most often get wrong. When a verb governs a preposition, the reciprocal does not stay as "preposition + einander" written separately. Instead the preposition and einander fuse into a single solid word, with the preposition first: auf + einander → aufeinander, mit + einander → miteinander, von + einander → voneinander, für + einander → füreinander, zu + einander → zueinander, über + einander → übereinander, gegen + einander → gegeneinander.
Wir warten aufeinander am Ausgang.
We're waiting for each other at the exit. (warten auf → aufeinander)
Im Team können wir viel voneinander lernen.
On the team we can learn a lot from each other. (lernen von → voneinander)
Lange haben wir nicht miteinander geredet.
We hadn't spoken with each other for a long time. (reden mit → miteinander)
Gute Kollegen sind füreinander da.
Good colleagues are there for one another. (da sein für → füreinander)
The logic mirrors the rule you already know from question and relative words: German does not strand a preposition or follow it with a bare reciprocal pronoun. Just as für was? becomes wofür? and a prepositional relative pied-pipes the preposition to the front, the reciprocal collects the preposition into a single fused form. The preposition you choose is dictated by the verb — you learn warten auf, so the reciprocal is aufeinander; you learn sich verlassen auf, so the reciprocal is aufeinander too.
Die alten Freunde verlassen sich völlig aufeinander.
The old friends rely completely on each other. (sich verlassen auf → aufeinander)
For the parallel pattern in relative clauses, see relative clauses with prepositions.
The ambiguity of sich, and how to resolve it
Because the plural sich covers both "themselves" and "each other," a sentence can be genuinely ambiguous. Die Kinder waschen sich can mean the children wash themselves (each one washes their own body) or the children wash each other (mutual scrubbing). Context usually decides, but German has two clean tools to force one reading.
To force the reciprocal reading, use einander or add gegenseitig ("mutually"):
Die Kinder waschen einander.
The children wash each other. (unambiguously reciprocal)
Die Spieler beglückwünschten sich gegenseitig.
The players congratulated each other / one another. (gegenseitig fixes the mutual reading)
To force the reflexive reading — each person acting on themselves — add selbst or jeder … selbst:
Die Kinder waschen sich selbst.
The children wash themselves (each their own body).
So the toolkit is: sich alone = ambiguous; sich gegenseitig or einander = reciprocal; sich selbst = reflexive. Use the disambiguators whenever the difference actually matters.
Contrast with English
English has a tidy, fully separate reciprocal phrase — each other (for two) and one another (traditionally for more than two) — that never overlaps with the reflexive themselves. So an English speaker can always tell the two readings apart, and never has to fuse anything: a preposition just sits in front, untouched: wait for each other, learn from each other, be there for one another. German differs on two fronts. First, the everyday reciprocal sich is the same word as the reflexive, so the readings collapse and you may need einander / gegenseitig / selbst to pull them apart. Second — the bigger trap — German refuses to leave a preposition standing in front of a bare reciprocal pronoun: for each other must become the single word füreinander, from each other the single word voneinander. Translating "each other" as a stand-alone chunk and parking a preposition in front of it (the English shape) is the single most common reciprocal error.
Common Mistakes
❌ Wir warten für einander.
Incorrect — two problems: the verb is warten auf (not für), and the reciprocal fuses into one word.
✅ Wir warten aufeinander.
We're waiting for each other.
❌ Sie lernen von einander viel.
Incorrect — preposition + einander fuse: voneinander, written solid.
✅ Sie lernen viel voneinander.
They learn a lot from each other.
❌ Gute Freunde sind da für einander.
Incorrect — für + einander is one word, füreinander.
✅ Gute Freunde sind füreinander da.
Good friends are there for each other.
❌ Anna und Tom lieben sich selbst seit Jahren.
Incorrect — selbst forces the reflexive reading ('love themselves'); for 'each other' use plain sich or einander.
✅ Anna und Tom lieben sich (einander) seit Jahren.
Anna and Tom have loved each other for years.
❌ Die beiden reden nicht mit einander.
Incorrect — mit + einander is the single word miteinander.
✅ Die beiden reden nicht miteinander.
The two of them aren't speaking to each other.
Key Takeaways
- The reciprocal "each other" is expressed by the plural reflexive (sich, uns, euch) or by the invariable einander.
- einander never declines and never takes a preposition in front of it.
- After a verb + preposition, the reciprocal fuses into one solid word, preposition first: aufeinander, miteinander, voneinander, füreinander, zueinander.
- Plain plural sich is ambiguous between "themselves" and "each other"; use einander / gegenseitig for the reciprocal reading and selbst for the reflexive one.
- The classic English-transfer error is parking a preposition in front of a separate "each other" — German fuses them instead.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Reflexive Pronouns: mich, mir, sichA2 — Reflexive pronouns point back to the subject; first and second person reuse the ordinary object pronouns, while the third person uses the invariable sich, and the accusative/dative choice hinges on whether there is another object.
- True Reflexive Verbs vs Reflexively Used VerbsB1 — Why sich beeilen can never lose its sich while ich wasche mich can — separating inherently reflexive verbs from verbs that merely loop the action back to the subject.
- Relative Clauses with PrepositionsB2 — German never strands a preposition: it pied-pipes to the front of the relative clause, sets the case of the pronoun, and for thing-antecedents fuses into a wo-compound.