Breakdown of Katten tvättar sig.
tvätta
to wash
katten
the cat
sig
oneself / himself / herself / themselves
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Questions & Answers about Katten tvättar sig.
Why do we use sig here for "itself"?
sig is a reflexive pronoun. We use it when the person or animal doing the action is the exact same one receiving the action (in the third person: he, she, it, or they). If we said Katten tvättar den, it would mean the cat is washing some other "it"!
Does tvättar always need a reflexive pronoun after it?
Not always! If the cat is washing a toy, you just use the object, like Katten tvättar leksaken (The cat washes the toy). But when washing oneself, Swedish requires the reflexive pronoun. This makes tvätta sig (to wash oneself) a reflexive verb.
How is the word sig pronounced?
Even though it is spelled sig, it is pronounced like the English word "say" (sometimes you might even see it informally spelled as "sej"). The same rule applies to the pronouns for me (mig) and you (dig), which sound like "mej" and "dej".
Just to review, why does Katten end in -en?
The word for "a cat" is en katt. In Swedish, to say "the" you attach that article to the end of the noun. So katt plus en becomes katten (the cat).