German Grammar * Review & Exercises

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS AND VERBS

A situation is reflexive when the subject and the object of the action are the same:

• Ich wasche meinen Hund.
  Subject (ich) and object (meinen Hund) are different ==> not reflexive.
• Ich wasche mich.
  Subject (ich) and object (mich) are the same ==> reflexive.

To indicate this, reflexive pronouns are used. There are reflexive pronouns in the accusative case and the dative case.

.		REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
CASE ==>	NOMINATIVE	ACCUSATIVE	DATIVE
SINGULAR	ich du	mich dich	mir dir
	er/sie/es	sich
PLURAL	wir ihr sie/Sie	uns euch sich

Note that they are different in the first and second person singular only--however, these forms are used quite often.

When are the accusative forms used, and when the dative forms?

• Accusative forms are used when the reflexive object is direct:
  Ich wasche mich.
  "mich" is the direct object of the action.
• Dative forms are used when the reflexive object is indirect:
  Ich wasche mir das Gesicht.
  "mir" is the indirect object (beneficiary) of the action and thus in the dative case ("das Gesicht" is the direct object of the action).

Since many situations use an accusative object before they use a dative object, the accusative form of the relative pronoun can be considered something of a `default'.

Dative forms are also used after adverbs such as nichts, etwas, viel, wenig (indefinite quantities), as well as dependent clauses with "daß". They function as direct objects.

• Ich habe mir etwas zu Essen gekauft.
• Ich denke mir, daß er ein Dummkopf ist.

Word Order
Normally, the reflexive pronoun follows as third element after either the verb (in statements) or the subject (in questions):

• Sie hat sich weh getan.
• Hast du dir weh getan?

Imperatives
The reflexive pronoun is required in imperatives:
= Beruhigt euch! (Calm down!)
= Benimm dich! (Behave!)
Remember that the basic version of this phrase would be: "Du benimmst dich". The reflexive pronoun dich goes with du; while the conjugation ending (-st) and the personal pronoun are dropped, the reflexive pronoun is retained! Also note the vowel change in this example; it needs to be carried out as usual.

Verbs

Here is a list of select so-called "reflexive verbs".

• some may or may not be reflexive, depending on the situation (they are listed below with "sich" in parentheses, e.g. "waschen"):
  = Er zieht sich um. He changes (clothes).
  = Er zieht seinen Sohn um. He changes his son's clothes.
• some are always reflexive and use a given case regardless of the above (though in most cases it follows that pattern).
• "+A" or "+D" below apply to the case of the object after the preposition, NOT to the case of the reflexive pronoun:
  = Elfriede erinnert sich nicht an ihren ersten Kuß.
  (sich erinnern an + A: "an ihren ersten Kuß";
  Elfriede remembers her first kiss.)

These are somewhat common and you should at least be familiar with them (i.e. be able to recognize them and work with them). Hint: use the accusative as a `default' (this works often--but not necessarily!).

Mit AKKUSATIV
(sich) amüsieren sich aufregen (über +A) sich beeilen sich befinden sich beklagen sich benehmen sich entscheiden (sich) entschuldigen sich ereignen sich erholen sich erinnern (an +A) sich erkälten sich freuen auf +A sich freuen (über +A) sich fürchten vor +D (sich) gewöhnen an +A sich interessieren für +A sich kümmern um +A (sich) stellen sich umsehen (sich) umziehen (sich) unterhalten sich verspäten sich vor*stellen sich wundern (über +A) sich wenden an +A	to amuse oneself to get angry (about) to be in a hurry to be present to complain to behave to decide to apologize to take place, occur, happen to recuperate to remember (something) to catch a cold to look forward to to be happy (about) to be afraid of to get used to to be interested in to take care of to turn oneself in (to the police) to look around to change (clothes) to converse, talk, entertain to be late to introduce onself to wonder, be surprised (about) to turn to
Mit AKKUSATIV ODER DATIV
sich legen (sich) rasieren (sich) setzen (sich) verletzen (sich) waschen	to lay down to shave to sit down to hurt (oneself) to wash (oneself)
Mit DATIV
sich etwas einbilden sich vorstellen (+A) sich zu schade sein für +A (sich) weh tun	to pretend to imagine to have too much selfrespect for to hurt (oneself)

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