The short answer
A Swedish reflexive pronoun points back to the subject: jag mig, du dig, han/hon/den/det sig, vi oss, ni er, de sig. Some verbs describe an action on oneself, such as tvätta sig; others should be learned as a unit, including känna sig, sätta sig, skynda sig and lära sig.
The complete reflexive pronoun set
Say jag tvättar mig, du tvättar dig, hon tvättar sig, vi tvättar oss, ni tvättar er and de tvättar sig. Only third person uses sig, for both singular and plural subjects.
The pronoun must refer back to the clause subject. This resembles, but is not identical to, Swedish sin, sitt and sina, which mark reflexive possession.
Verbs to learn together with sig
Känna sig means to feel, skynda sig to hurry, sätta sig to sit down and lära sig to learn. Removing sig can leave the construction incomplete or give the verb a different job.
Save the whole infinitive in your vocabulary: att känna sig rather than känna. Then add a sentence with a different subject.
Sätta, sätta sig and sitta
Sätta places an object or person: Jag sätter koppen på bordet. Sätta sig describes the movement of sitting down. Sitta describes the resulting position.
This trio shows why word-for-word translation fails. Learn movement, action on an object and state as three separate constructions.
A drill that forces the correct pronoun
Write one sentence with jag, then change only the subject to du, hon, vi, ni and de. The verb remains unchanged while the reflexive pronoun takes five different forms.
Say all six versions without looking, then use the conversation tutor to place them in a morning routine or a story about yesterday.
Questions people ask
- What are the Swedish reflexive pronouns?
- Mig, dig, sig, oss, er and sig match jag, du, third-person subjects, vi, ni and de.
- When do you use sig in Swedish?
- Use sig when an object refers back to a third-person subject, singular or plural.
- What is the difference between sig and sin?
- Sig is a reflexive object pronoun. Sin, sitt and sina are reflexive possessive determiners placed before a noun.
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