Reflexive verb

In grammar, a reflexive verb is, loosely, a verb whose direct object is the same as its subject, for example, "I wash myself". More generally, a reflexive verb has the same semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the subject and the direct object). For example, the English verb to perjure is reflexive, since one can only perjure oneself. In a wider sense, the term refers to any verb form whose grammatical object is a reflexive pronoun, regardless of semantics; such verbs are also more broadly referred to as pronominal verbs, especially in the grammar of the Romance languages. Other kinds of pronominal verbs are reciprocal (they killed each other), passive (it is told), subjective, and idiomatic. The presence of the reflexive pronoun changes the meaning of a verb, e.g., Spanish , .

There are languages that have explicit morphology or syntax to transform a verb into a reflexive form. In many languages, reflexive constructions are rendered by transitive verbs followed by a reflexive pronoun, as in English -self (e.g., "She threw herself to the floor."). English employs reflexive derivation idiosyncratically as well, as in "self-destruct".

Indo-European languages Romance and Slavic languages make extensive use of reflexive verbs and reflexive forms.

In the Romance languages, there are nonemphatic clitic reflexive pronouns and emphatic ones. In Spanish, for example, the particle encliticizes to the verb's infinitive, gerund, and imperative ( ), while in Romanian, the particle procliticizes to the verb ( ). Full reflexive pronouns or pronominal phrases are added for emphasis or disambiguation: "I take care of myself" ( combines with the prepositional form of the pronoun to form an intensive reflexive pronoun).

The enclitic reflexive pronoun sa/se/si/się is used in Western and South Slavic languages, while Eastern Slavic languages use the suffix -sja (-ся). There is also the non-clitic emphatic pronoun sebja/себя, used to emphasize the reflexive nature of the act; it is applicable only to "true" reflexive verbs, where the agent performs a (transitive) action on itself.

The Slavic languages use the same reflexive pronoun for all persons and numbers, while the Romance and North Germanic ones have a special third person pronoun that cliticizes and the other Germanic ones do as well without cliticizing. This is illustrated in the following table for the word "to recall" (e.g., means "I recall", means "You recall", and so on).

French Danish Serbo-Croatian 1st person Singular Plural 2nd person Singular Plural 3rd person Singular Plural

In all of these language groups, reflexive forms often present an obstacle for foreign learners (notably native speakers of English, where the feature is practically absent) due to the variety of uses. Even in languages which contain the feature, it is not always applicable to the same verbs and uses (although a common subset can be generally extracted, as outlined below). For example, the Spanish reflexive construct "se hundió el barco" ("the boat sank") has no reflexive equivalent in some Slavic languages (which use an intransitive equivalent of sink), though for example Czech and Slovak do use a reflexive verb: "loď se potopila"/"loď sa potopila". Reflexive verbs can have a variety of uses and meanings, which often escape consistent classification. Some language-common identified uses are outlined below. For example, Davies et al. identify 12 uses for Spanish reflexive constructions, while Vinogradov divides Russian reflexive verbs into as many as 16 groups.

Martin Haspelmath also has a useful distinction between the reflexive types mentioned below, which he calls introverted reflexives, and so-called extroverted reflexives, which are used for verbs that are usually not reflexive, like hate oneself, love oneself, hear oneself, and kill oneself. Some Indo-European languages have a different reflexive morpheme for extroverted reflexives. For example: The Russian ненавидеть себя (nenavidet' sebja) "to hate oneself", which uses a reflexive pronoun, compares to мыться (myt'-sja) "to wash (oneself)", which uses a reflexive suffix (Russian can also say мыть себя (myt' sebja), with a reflexive pronoun, but only when the pronoun needs to be stressed for emphasis or contrast). Or Dutch "zij haat zichzelf" "she hates herself", versus "zij wast zich" "she washes (herself)". The distinction exists similarly in English, where introverted reflexive verbs usually have no reflexive pronoun, unlike extroverted. In ancient Greek, the introverted reflexive was expressed using the middle voice rather than a pronoun. Similarly, in modern Greek, it is expressed using the middle usage of the mediopassive voice. On the other hand, the extroverted reflexive was a true reflexive in ancient Greek and modern Greek. Similarly, Claire Moyse-Faurie distinguishes between middle and reflexive in Oceanic languages.Claire Moyse-Faurie. Reflexives markers in Oceanic languages. Studia Linguistica, In press, 71 (1/2), pp.107-135. ffhal-02875517f

Properly reflexive

The "true" (literal) reflexive denotes that the agent is simultaneously the patient. The verb is typically transitive and can be used in non-reflexive meaning as well. LanguageExamplesCompareEnglishPeter washes [himself].Peter washes the cat.French (Verb: )Spanish (Verb: )PortugueseO Pedro lava-se. (Verb: lavar)O Pedro lava o gato.ItalianPietro si lava.Pietro lava il gatto.CatalanEn Pere es renta.En Pere renta el gat.GalicianPedro lávase.Pedro lava o gato.RomanianPetre se spală.Petre spală pisica.Serbo-CroatianPetar se kupa.Petar kupa mačku.SlovenePeter se umiva.Peter umiva mačko.BulgarianПетър се мие.Петър мие котката.PolishPiotr się kąpie.Piotr kąpie kota.RussianПётр моется.Пётр моет кота.GermanPeter wäscht sich.Peter wäscht die Katze.DanishPeter vasker sig.Peter vasker katten.SwedishPeter tvättar sig.Peter tvättar katten.LithuanianPetras prausiasi.Petras prausia katę.Petras prausia save.CzechPetr se koupe.Petr koupe kočku.

Reciprocal

"Reciprocal" reflexive denotes that the agents perform the mutual actions among themselves, as in English constructions using "each other". In most cases, the transitive verbs are also used. LanguageExamplesCompareEnglishMary and Peter kiss [each other].Mary kisses Peter.FrenchSpanishMaría y Pedro se besan (Infinitive: besarse).María besa a Pedro.PortugueseA Maria e o Pedro beijam-se (Verb: beijar).A Maria beija o Pedro.ItalianMaria e Pietro si baciano.Maria bacia Pietro.CatalanLa Maria i en Pere es fan un petó.La Maria fa un petó en Pere.GalicianMaría e Pedro bícanse.María bica a Pedro.RomanianMaria și Petre se sărută.Maria îl sărută pe Petre.Serbo-CroatianMarija i Petar se ljube.Marija ljubi Petra.SloveneMarija in Petar se poljubita.Marija poljubi Petra.BulgarianМария и Петър се целуват.Мария целува Петър.PolishMaria i Piotr się całują.Maria całuje Piotra.RussianМария и Пётр целуются.Мария целует Петра.DanishMaria og Peter kysser hinanden.Maria kysser Peter.GermanMaria und Peter küssen sich (/ küssen einander).Maria küsst Peter.LithuanianMarija ir Petras bučiuojasi.Marija bučiuoja Petrą.Hebrewמאיה ופאר מתנשקים.מאיה מנשקת את פאר.

In modern Scandinavian languages, the passive (or more properly mediopassive) voice is used for medial, especially reciprocal, constructions. Some examples from Danish are:

Maria og Peter skændes; "Mary and Peter are bickering", lit. "Mary and Peter are scolded by each other."

Maria og Peter blev forlovet; "Mary and Peter got engaged [to each other]."

(The hypothetical form **kysses (kiss each other) is not often—if ever—seen in Danish; however, it will likely be understood by most native speakers, indicating that the mediopassive voice is still at the very least potentially productive in Danish. An expression like "de kysses uafladeligt" (they kiss each other all the time) could very well be used for humorous purposes.)

Autocausative

"Autocausative" reflexive denotes that the (usually animate) "referent represented by the subject combines the activity of actor and undergoes a change of state as a patient": LanguageExamplesCompareEnglishPeter became/was offended.Paul offended Peter.FrenchSpanishPedro se ofendió.ItalianPietro si offese.CatalanEn Pere es va ofendre.GalicianPedro ofendeuse.RomanianPetre s-a supărat.Serbo-CroatianPetar se uvrijedio.SlovenePeter se je užalil.BulgarianПетър се обиди.Petăr se obidi.PolishPiotr się obraził.RussianПётр обиделся.Pjotr obidelsja.GermanPeter ärgerte sich.LithuanianPetras įsižeidė.

Anticausative

"Anticausative" reflexive denotes that the (usually inanimate) subject of the verb undergoes an action or change of state whose agent is unclear or nonexistent.

{|class="wikitable" |- !Language !Examples !Compare |- !English |The door opened. |Paul opened the door. |- !French

Intransitive or impersonal

"Intransitive" forms (also known as "impersonal reflexive" or "mediopassive") are obtained by attaching the reflexive pronoun to intransitive verbs. The grammatical subject is either omitted (in pro-drop languages) or is a dummy pronoun (otherwise). Thus, those verbs are defective, as they have only the 3rd person singular (masculine or neuter, depending on language) form.

In Slavic languages, practically "the only condition is that they can be construed as having a human agent. The applied human agent can be generic, or loosely specified collective or individual."

LanguageExamplesSpanishAquí se trabaja bien.Se dice que...PortugueseAqui trabalha-se bem.Diz-se que...ItalianQui si lavora bene.Si dice che...FrenchCatalanAquí es treballa bé.Hom/Es diu que...GalicianAquí trabállase ben.Dise que...RomanianAici se muncește bine.Se zice că...Serbo-CroatianTu se radi dobro.Smatra se da...SloveneTu se dobro dela.Razume se, da...BulgarianТук се работи добре.Tuk se raboti dobre.Смята се, че...Smyata se, če...PolishTu pracuje się dobrze.Uważa się, że...RussianЗдесь хорошо работается.Zdes' khorosho rabotajetsja.Думается, что...Dumajetsja, chto...LithuanianŽmonės čia gerai darbuojasi.Manoma, kad...Čia gerai darbuojamasi.GermanEs arbeitet sich hier gut.Man sagt sich, dass...English[People] work well here.It is considered that...

In many cases, there is a semantic overlap between impersonal/anticausative/autocausative constructs and the passive voice (also present in all Romance and Slavic languages). On one hand, impersonal reflexive constructs have a wider scope of application, as they are not limited to transitive verbs like the canonical passive voice. On the other hand, those constructs can have slight semantic difference or markedness.

Inherent "Inherent" or "pronominal" (inherently or essentially) reflexive verbs lack the corresponding non-reflexive from which they can be synchronically derived. In other words, the reflexive pronoun "is an inherent part of an unergative reflexive or reciprocal verb with no meaning of its own, and an obligatory part of the verb's lexical entry": {|class="wikitable" |- !Language !colspan=4|Examples |- !Spanish |Pedro se arrepintió. |Pedro se ríe |María y Pedro se separaron.The verb is reflexive, but not inherently. Both have non-reflexive forms: the transitive separar and the intransitive reír. In Lithuanian išsiskirti and skųstis have non-reflexive forms: transitive išskirti and transitive skųsti. |Pedro se queja. |- !French | | (informal)

Reflexive verb

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