Reflexive Verbs in German

German reflexive verbs. Talking about most of your daily routine activities involves the use of German reflexive verbs. Be it brushing your teeth or taking a shower or even shaving! Mastering these verbs is important to build your vocabulary.
Now you must be thinking, what exactly are reflexive verbs and how are they different from other verbs? Without further ado, let’s begin with the lesson.

German Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs are those verbs which take a reflexive pronoun. The infinitive forms of these verbs are preceded by the pronoun “sich”. For example, sich duschen (to take a shower).

Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the sentence. This means, you are doing an action for yourself and not for anyone else. In English, the usage of “oneself” implies that the verbs are reflexive. The German pronoun “sich” is equivalent to English “oneself”.

Reflexive verbs in German are conjugated just like normal German verbs, and the corresponding reflexive pronoun is placed after the conjugated verb. For example, 🔊 Listen Ich dusche mich.  (I am taking a shower.)

The reflexive pronouns that are used with the reflexive verbs can either take the accusative case or the dative case. Now, let’s study these 2 types in detail.

German Reflexive Verbs in the Accusative

When the subject and object of a sentence are the same, reflexive pronouns are in the accusative case. They are as follows:-

• Du verletzt dich. (You hurt yourself.)
• Ich fühle mich heute krank. (I am feeling sick today.)
• Mein Bruder rasiert sich jeden zweiten Tag. (My brother shaves every other day.)

German Reflexive Verbs in the Dative

When there is another direct accusative object in the sentence, reflexive pronouns are in the dative case. They are as follows:-

• 🔊 Listen Ich ziehe mir ein Hemd an.  (I put on a shirt.)
• 🔊 Listen Er wäscht sich die Hände.  (He washes his hands.)
• 🔊 Listen Hast du dir die Haare gekämmt?  (Did you comb your hair?)

As you must have observed above, only the 1st and 2nd person singular (ich and du) forms of dative reflexive pronouns differ from the accusative reflexive pronouns. The rest of the pronouns are same in both the cases.

Reflexive Verben mit Akkusativ | German Reflexive Verbs Explained!

Important Points to Remember

Some verbs are always reflexive. That means, they are always used with a reflexive pronoun.

Examples – sich bedanken (to thank), sich beeilen (to hurry), sich befinden (to be located), sich erkälten (to catch a cold), sich erholen (to relax / rest), sich verspäten (to be late) etc.

Other verbs are only reflexive when the subject and object of a sentence are the same. Otherwise, they are not reflexive and an object pronoun is used.

• 🔊 Listen Ich schneide mir die Nägel . (I cut my nails.) – Reflexive
• 🔊 Listen Ich schneide ihr die Nägel.  (I cut her nails.) – Not reflexive

Read the above sentences again carefully. When body parts or items of clothing are mentioned in a sentence, then they use the definite article and not the possessive article (die Nägel).

Some verbs have a completely different meaning when used as a reflexive verb. For instance, sich ausziehen means to undress oneself. But, ausziehen means to move out.

A List of German Reflexive Verbs with Prepositions

Here’s a list of some commonly used German reflexive verbs, which always take specific prepositions:-