In Icelandic, body movement verbs frequently use reflexive pronouns like sig or sér (oneself). Usually, a reflexive pronoun points to the subject of the sentence. But what happens when you ask someone else to stretch?
Object-Controlled Reflexives
When a main verb like biðja (to ask) or láta (to make/let) is followed by an object (the person instructed) and an infinitive verb (the action), any reflexive pronoun inside the infinitival clause points back to the logical doer of the action—the object of the main verb.
For example, if the teacher asks the boy to stretch, the boy is doing the stretching. Therefore, sig refers to the boy, not the teacher.
| The yoga teacher asks the boy to stretch well. | Jógakennarinn biður strákinn að teygja sig vel. |
Accusative vs. Dative Reflexives
The case of the reflexive pronoun depends on the verb inside the infinitival clause. Verbs like teygja (stretch) and beygja (bend) demand the accusative case (sig).
| I make the student bend down and look at his toe in yoga. | Ég læt nemandann beygja sig og horfa á tána í jóganu. |
Other movement verbs demand the dative case (sér), such as snúa (turn/twist) and halla (lean).
| The yoga teacher makes the girl twist into a new pose. | Jógakennarinn lætur stelpuna snúa sér í nýja stellingu. |
| I ask the student to lean back on the mat. | Ég bið nemandann að halla sér á dýnuna. |
Possessive Reflexives
This same rule applies to the reflexive possessive words sinn, sín, sitt (his/her/their own). If you instruct a student to stretch their own hip, the possessive refers back to the student executing the stretch.
| The yoga teacher asks the student to stretch his hip. | Jógakennarinn biður nemandann að teygja mjöðmina sína. |