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Russian Reflexive Pronouns

Russian grammar --> Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are words used to refer back to previously mentioned nouns and pronouns, most often to the subject of the sentence. In Russian, this function is generally performed by pronouns себя, свой and друг друга.

Reflexive pronoun себя

The reflexive pronoun себя refers back to persons or objects performing an action affecting themselves. Most often, the pronoun себя refers to the subject of the sentence, but it can also refer to other parts of the sentence.

The reflexive pronoun себя does not occur in the nominative case and does not change for gender and number.

The reflexive pronoun may occur together with the word сам which will agree in gender and number of the noun the reflexive pronoun refers to.

The pronoun себя is used in different idiomatic expressions:

Pronoun свой

The pronoun свой, called reflexive possessive pronoun, means one's own and reflects the ownership to the subject of the verb in a sentence or a clause. (See also: Russian Possessive Pronouns )

Pronoun друг друга

The pronoun друг друга, called reciprocal pronoun, adds the meaning of reciprocity of an action and corresponds to English each other/one another. It consists of two parts: the first indeclinable part друг and the second part друга which declines and takes the case required by the verb, adjective or preposition. If a preposition occurs, it is placed between the two parts.

The table below represents the declension of this pronoun with and without a preposition.