A reflexive verb is one whose action loops back onto the subject: the person doing the action and the person receiving it are the same. In English you mostly do this with "-self" words — I wash myself, she hurt herself — but German uses reflexive verbs far more widely, often where English uses a perfectly ordinary, non-reflexive verb. This page introduces the machinery and, more importantly, explains why German leans on it so heavily.
The basic idea
When the subject acts on itself, German marks this with a reflexive pronoun that agrees with the subject. Take sich freuen (to be glad, to look forward to something). The infinitive is listed with sich in front of it, which is your signal that the verb needs a reflexive pronoun.
| Subject | Verb + reflexive pronoun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ich | freue mich | I'm glad |
| du | freust dich | you're glad |
| er / sie / es | freut sich | he / she / it is glad |
| wir | freuen uns | we're glad |
| ihr | freut euch | you (pl.) are glad |
| sie / Sie | freuen sich | they / you (formal) are glad |
Ich freue mich auf das Wochenende.
I'm looking forward to the weekend.
Freust du dich auch so auf den Urlaub?
Are you looking forward to the holiday as much as I am?
The crucial pattern: in the first and second persons, the reflexive pronoun is simply the ordinary object pronoun — mich, dich, uns, euch. Only the third person (and the formal Sie) has a special dedicated form: sich. That one word covers himself, herself, itself, themselves, and yourself (formal).
Why German has so many more reflexive verbs than English
This is where learners stumble, so it is worth understanding the why. English reserves "-self" for cases where the reflexive meaning is genuinely the point: I cut myself, she taught herself. For most other situations English either uses a separate intransitive verb (sit down, hurry, rest) or simply drops the object (I wash, I shave).
German, by contrast, keeps the reflexive pronoun in a huge class of verbs that describe what you do to yourself, how you feel, or a change in your own state. Many of these correspond to plain, non-reflexive English verbs:
| German (reflexive) | English (not reflexive) |
|---|---|
| sich erinnern | to remember |
| sich beeilen | to hurry |
| sich ausruhen | to rest |
| sich setzen | to sit down |
| sich freuen | to be glad |
| sich fühlen | to feel (a certain way) |
Ich kann mich an seinen Namen nicht erinnern.
I can't remember his name.
Beeil dich, wir kommen sonst zu spät!
Hurry up, otherwise we'll be late!
Ruh dich erst mal aus, du siehst müde aus.
Rest a bit first, you look tired.
The deep point: because English gives you no cue at all that these verbs are reflexive, you cannot rely on translation. There is nothing in "I remember" that hints at a hidden "myself." You therefore have to learn these as sich-verbs from the very first time you meet them — store sich erinnern, not erinnern, in your memory. The dictionary lists them with sich precisely to drill this in.
The Perfekt always uses haben
Here is one rule that is mercifully clean. No matter what the verb means or whether it involves motion, the Perfekt of a reflexive verb is always formed with haben — never with sein.
Ich habe mich sehr über deinen Brief gefreut.
I was really pleased about your letter.
Wir haben uns am Strand gut ausgeruht.
We rested well on the beach.
Sie hat sich noch gar nicht beeilt.
She hasn't hurried at all yet.
Why? Because a reflexive verb always has an object — the reflexive pronoun itself counts as the object the action falls on. And verbs with an object take haben. So even sich setzen (to sit down, which feels like a motion verb) takes haben: Ich habe mich gesetzt, not bin gesetzt. The reflexive pronoun outranks the motion.
A first look at case
You will notice that the reflexive pronoun is sometimes accusative (mich, dich, sich) and sometimes dative (mir, dir, sich). For now, just know that the case depends on whether there is a second object in the sentence:
- No other object → the reflexive is accusative: Ich wasche mich (I wash myself).
- A separate accusative object is present → the reflexive shifts to dative: Ich wasche mir die Hände (I wash my hands).
These two patterns each get their own page — accusative reflexives and dative reflexives — but it helps to see the split early, because it explains why the same verb can take mich or mir.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich freue auf das Wochenende.
Incorrect — the reflexive pronoun is missing. English 'I look forward' has no reflexive, so you forget that German needs one.
✅ Ich freue mich auf das Wochenende.
I'm looking forward to the weekend.
❌ Er erinnert an seinen ersten Schultag.
Incorrect — without sich, this means 'he reminds (someone) of his first day'. To say 'he remembers', you need the reflexive.
✅ Er erinnert sich an seinen ersten Schultag.
He remembers his first day of school.
❌ Wir freuen sich auf euch.
Incorrect — the reflexive pronoun must agree with the subject. With wir it must be uns, not sich.
✅ Wir freuen uns auf euch.
We're looking forward to seeing you.
❌ Ich bin mich gut ausgeruht.
Incorrect — reflexive verbs always form the Perfekt with haben, never sein, even when they feel like a state change.
✅ Ich habe mich gut ausgeruht.
I rested well.
❌ Setzen Sie Sich!
Incorrect — the reflexive sich stays lowercase even with the formal Sie.
✅ Setzen Sie sich!
Have a seat.
Key Takeaways
- The reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject: mich, dich, sich, uns, euch, sich.
- First and second person use ordinary object pronouns; only the third person and formal Sie use the special sich.
- German has far more reflexive verbs than English, and many translate as plain English verbs — learn them as sich-verbs from the start.
- The Perfekt is always formed with haben.
- Whether the pronoun is accusative or dative depends on whether a second object is present.
Now practice German
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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.
- Accusative Reflexive VerbsA2 — The most common reflexive pattern, where the reflexive pronoun is the accusative object — including reflexives that govern a fixed preposition.
- Dative Reflexive Verbs and Body PartsB1 — When a reflexive verb already has an accusative object, the reflexive pronoun shifts to the dative — the pattern behind 'sich die Hände waschen' and 'sich etwas vorstellen'.
- Reflexive vs Non-Reflexive PairsB1 — Verbs that exist both reflexively and non-reflexively — like setzen/sich setzen and ärgern/sich ärgern — and how adding sich shifts the meaning.
- 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.