Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Reflexive Verbs Learning German Grammar Collins Education
Reflexive Verbs Learning German Grammar Collins Education
Grammar German
1 Using reflexive verbs
In German, reflexive verbs are much more common than in English, and many
are used in everyday German. Reflexive verbs consist of two parts: the
reflexive pronoun sich (meaning himself, herself, itself, themselves or
oneself) and the infinitive of the verb.
The present tense forms of a reflexive verb work in just the same way as an
ordinary verb, except that the reflexive pronoun is used as well.
Below you will find the present tense of the common reflexive verbs sich
setzen (meaning to sit down) which has its reflexive pronoun in the
accusative and sich erlauben (meaning to allow oneself) which has its
reflexive pronoun in the dative.
Sie setzen sich aufs Sofa. They sit down on the sofa.
Ich erlaube mir jetzt ein Bier. Now I’m going to allow myself a beer.
Er erlaubt sich ein Stück Kuchen. He’s allowing himself a piece of cake.
Some of the most common German reflexive verbs are listed here:
Ich ziehe mich schnell an und dann gehen I’ll get dressed quickly and then we can
wir. go.
Sie kann sich ein neues Auto nicht leisten. She can’t afford a new car.
Was wünscht ihr euch zu Weihnachten? What do you want for Christmas?
Note that a direct object reflexive pronoun changes to an indirect object pronoun
if another direct object is present.
Some German verbs which are not usually reflexive can be made reflexive by
adding a reflexive pronoun.
For more information on word order with Reflexive pronouns, see Reflexive
pronouns.
Key points