Emphasizing Your Independence: "selbst" and "selber"
Learning a complex skill entirely alone can be challenging, but being an autodidact is something to be proud of. To emphasize that someone performs an action personally—rather than relying on others—use the emphatic intensifier selbst or selber.
Depending on the subject, these translate to "myself," "yourself," "himself," "ourselves," and so on. They never change their endings. Both words mean exactly the same thing, though selber is slightly more conversational.
A common context for these intensifiers is the verb beibringen (to teach). When you teach yourself a skill, use a dative reflexive pronoun (like mir for "to me") alongside selbst or selber.
| I teach myself the new language. | Ich bringe mir die neue Sprache selbst bei. |
You can use these words with any verb to highlight your independent effort.
| I program the system myself, although it is complicated. | Ich programmiere das System selber, obwohl es kompliziert ist. |
Motivation and Discipline
You will often see selbst or selber placed toward the end of a clause, right before an infinitive, or at the very end of the sentence.
| A good student needs motivation and discipline to learn everything himself. | Ein guter Schüler braucht Motivation und Disziplin, um alles selbst zu lernen. |
| Did you teach yourself the system? | Hast du dir das System selber beigebracht? |
Even when the process is difficult or full of doubt, succeeding independently is highly rewarding.
| I knew without a doubt that I had to build up the project myself. | Ich wusste ohne Zweifel, dass ich das Projekt selbst aufbauen musste. |
| The independent work was frustrating, but we had managed it ourselves. | Die unabhängige Arbeit war frustrierend, aber wir hatten es selber geschafft. |
