A reflexive verb is one where the subject acts on itself: I wash myself, she enjoys herself. Norwegian uses reflexive verbs far more than English does — many everyday verbs are obligatorily reflexive in Norwegian even though their English translations carry no "-self" at all (glede seg "look forward to", føle seg "feel"). The mechanics are simple once you learn the pronoun paradigm, but the which verbs part requires real memorisation, so we'll be honest about that. The keystone is the third-person reflexive pronoun seg.
The reflexive pronoun paradigm
Reflexive pronouns match the subject. For first and second person, they are simply the ordinary object pronouns. The special form is seg, which covers all of the third person — singular and plural, masculine, feminine, and "they."
| Subject | Reflexive | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | meg | jeg vasker meg |
| du | deg | du vasker deg |
| han / hun / den / det | seg | hun vasker seg |
| vi | oss | vi vasker oss |
| dere | dere | dere vasker dere |
| de | seg | de vasker seg |
Jeg vasker meg hver morgen.
I wash (myself) every morning.
Hun vasker seg før frokost.
She washes (herself) before breakfast.
Barna vasker seg ikke uten å bli bedt om det.
The kids don't wash unless they're told to.
The crucial form to lock in is seg for he, she, it, and they alike. Where English juggles himself, herself, itself, themselves, Norwegian uses one word: seg. That single form is doing all the third-person work.
True reflexives: the subject acts on itself
The most transparent reflexives are verbs where the action literally returns to the doer. The reflexive pronoun is the object, and it happens to be the same person as the subject.
| Reflexive verb | English |
|---|---|
| vaske seg | wash oneself |
| kle på seg | get dressed (put clothes on oneself) |
| sette seg | sit down (seat oneself) |
| legge seg | lie down / go to bed |
| reise seg | stand up / rise |
Barna kler på seg selv nå — de er store gutter.
The kids dress themselves now — they're big boys.
Sett deg, så lager jeg te.
Sit down, and I'll make some tea.
Han la seg tidlig fordi han var utslitt.
He went to bed early because he was worn out.
Notice sette seg vs legge seg: these motion-into-position verbs are reflexive in Norwegian where English uses an intransitive "sit down / lie down." The reflexive is doing the job of English "down" here — you seat yourself, you lay yourself down.
Inherently reflexive verbs: the hard part
Here is where honesty is required. Norwegian has a large class of verbs that are inherently reflexive: they simply come with a reflexive pronoun, and the English translation has no "-self" to tip you off. You cannot derive these from English; you must memorise each one as a reflexive lexical unit.
| Reflexive verb | English (no "-self"!) |
|---|---|
| glede seg (til) | look forward (to) |
| føle seg | feel (a certain way) |
| skynde seg | hurry |
| kjede seg | be bored |
| konsentrere seg | concentrate |
| oppføre seg | behave |
| angre seg | regret / change one's mind |
Jeg føler meg ikke helt bra i dag.
I don't feel quite well today.
Vi gleder oss til helga.
We're looking forward to the weekend.
Skynd deg, vi er sent ute!
Hurry up, we're running late!
Han klarer ikke å konsentrere seg med musikk på.
He can't concentrate with music on.
There is no logical shortcut: føle seg must be learned as "feel," glede seg as "look forward," skynde seg as "hurry." When you meet a new verb of emotion, mood, or self-directed behaviour, assume it might be reflexive and learn the seg as part of the word. A useful habit: store these in your memory with the pronoun — not "føle" but "føle seg", not "glede" but "glede seg".
Why the third person needs seg specifically
A natural question: why can't he washes him mean "he washes himself"? Because ham ("him") refers to a different person from the subject, while seg refers back to the subject. This distinction is the whole reason seg exists:
Han vasker seg.
He washes himself. (same person)
Han vasker ham.
He washes him. (a different man)
In han vasker seg, the washer and the washed are one person. In han vasker ham, they are two different men. English collapses the first into "-self" and the second into "him"; Norwegian marks the difference with seg vs ham/henne/den/det. So using ham where you mean the subject is not a small slip — it changes who is being washed.
seg vs the possessive sin
A quick boundary marker, because the forms look related: seg is a pronoun (the object of a reflexive verb), while sin / si / sitt / sine is the reflexive possessive ("his/her own"). They are different words for different jobs and live on different pages.
Hun tar med seg sin egen kopp.
She brings her own cup with her.
Here seg is the object ("with herself") and sin marks possession ("her own cup"). Don't confuse them; the possessive sin gets its own treatment in pronouns/reflexive-possessive.
Common Mistakes
❌ Han vasker hver morgen.
Incorrect — reflexive pronoun dropped.
✅ Han vasker seg hver morgen.
He washes (himself) every morning.
English lets you say "he washes" intransitively; Norwegian vaske seg needs the seg. Without it, vaske means "wash (something else)."
❌ Han vasker ham. (meaning himself)
Incorrect — 'ham' points to a different person.
✅ Han vasker seg.
He washes himself.
For the third person referring back to the subject, you must use seg, never ham/henne. Ham would mean some other man.
❌ Jeg gleder til ferien.
Incorrect — inherently reflexive verb stripped of its pronoun.
✅ Jeg gleder meg til ferien.
I'm looking forward to the holiday.
Glede seg is obligatorily reflexive. Drop the meg/deg/seg and the sentence breaks. English "look forward" has no "-self," which is exactly why this slips.
❌ Vi gleder seg til helga.
Incorrect — wrong reflexive for a 'vi' subject.
✅ Vi gleder oss til helga.
We're looking forward to the weekend.
The reflexive must agree with the subject: vi → oss. Seg is third person only; a vi subject needs oss.
Key Takeaways
- Paradigm: meg, deg, seg, oss, dere, seg — and seg covers the entire third person (sg + pl).
- True reflexives (vaske seg, sette seg, legge seg) mirror English "-self / down," more or less.
- Inherently reflexive verbs (glede seg, føle seg, skynde seg, kjede seg, konsentrere seg) have no "-self" in English — memorise them with their seg.
- Han vasker seg = himself; han vasker ham = a different man. The choice of pronoun changes the meaning.
- seg (pronoun) is not sin (possessive); keep them apart.
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Reflexive Pronouns: meg, deg, segA2 — Norwegian reflexives copy the object pronouns in the 1st/2nd person (meg, deg, oss, dere) but use a dedicated word — seg — in the entire 3rd person, so 'han vasker seg' (washes himself) and 'han vasker ham' (washes another man) are different sentences English can't keep apart without -self.
- sin vs hans/hennes: The Reflexive PossessiveB1 — The classic Scandinavian trap: sin/si/sitt/sine refers possession back to the SUBJECT of the clause (han tok jakken sin = his own jacket), while hans/hennes/deres points to someone else (jakken hans = another man's). sin agrees with the possessed noun's gender and number, never the owner, and can never be part of the subject — two rules English has no analogue for.
- Deponent s-Verbs: synes, finnes, trivesB1 — The lexical -s verbs that are never passives — synes, finnes, trives, lykkes — and the three-way 'think' split between synes, tror and mener.
- The Present Tense (-r)A1 — How to form the Norwegian present tense — add -r to the infinitive, one form for every person — and how it routinely expresses the future with a time word.