Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns

Wederkerende en wederkerige voornaamwoorden

Goals of this lesson

-Understand the difference between reflexive and reciprocal  pronouns 

- Use reflexive and reciprocal pronouns correctly in a sentence

Reflexive pronouns

The reflexive pronoun refers to the 

person who is the subject.

I'm teaching myself Italian.

I	myself
you	yourself
he	himself
she	herself
it	itself
you	yourselves
we	ourselves
they	themselves

Reciprocal pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns refer to multiple people performing the same activity with or toward each other.

They hate each other!

They stay in each other's house.

They talk to one another.

Reflexive pronouns

myself

yourself

himself

herself

itself

ourselves

yourselves

themselves

Reciprocal pronouns

each other

one another

Examples

Reflexive pronouns:

Jack decided to reward himself.

I pour a cup of tea for myself every morning.

Reciprocal pronouns:

They talk to one another.

We didn't look at each other.

Exceptions

Reflexive pronouns are not usually used after verbs like wash, dress, and shave, unless you want to emphasize who is doing the action.

• He shaved himself to get ready for the meeting. (emphasis on who did it)
• She dressed herself quickly after the fire alarm went off.

He shaved. ✅ (This is enough, since it's assumed people shave themselves)

She got dressed. ✅

Reciprocal pronouns are not usually used after verbs like hug, marry,  and kiss. They hugged. ✅ (“Each other” is implied, so adding it is redundant)

In this sentence: 'He was feeling sorry for himself', himself is a

1. reciprocal pronoun
2. reflexive pronoun

My dog hurt ______.

1. myself
2. itself
3. each other
4. ...

I always shave ______ on monday.

1. myself
2. himself
3. ...
4. each other

We blame ______ for failing the test.

1. ourselves
2. myself
3. himself
4. each other

My baby boy cannot look after ______ .

1. himself
2. each other
3. one another
4. herself

Michelle saw ______ in the mirror.

1. eachother
2. ...
3. myself
4. herself

They give ______ gifts during the holidays.

1. ourselves
2. one another
3. themselves
4. myselves

Fill in the correct pronoun: Maria and Sam gave ______ gold rings on their wedding.

Write a sentence of your own containing a 'reflexive' or 'reciprocal' pronoun

Wat vind je nog moelijk?