{"id":9491,"date":"2018-01-17T15:15:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T15:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=9491"},"modified":"2018-01-17T15:15:01","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T15:15:01","slug":"reflexive-german-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/reflexive-german-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflexive German Verbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re going to look at reflexive German verbs.<\/strong> If you\u2019ve ever heard a German native say something like \u201cI will shower me\u201d<\/em> in English instead of \u201cI will take a shower\u201d<\/em>, for example, this post on reflexive verbs will hopefully explain why that is!<\/p>\n

\"20070610_bird-bath\"<\/a>

sich baden – to bathe\/wash oneself. Photo “20070610_bird-bath” by natjulien on flickr.com under a CC license (CC BY 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

What is a reflexive verb?<\/h3>\n

A reflexive verb is one that has a pronoun that refers back to the subject of the sentence. Or, to put it simply, instead of just saying \u201cI shower\u201d, as you would in English, in German you add \u201cmyself\u201d to show that you are doing this action to yourself. So instead of \u201cI shower\u201d you\u2019d say \u201cI shower myself\u201d.<\/p>\n

What do reflexive verbs look like in German?<\/h3>\n

Reflexive verbs all begin with the word sich<\/strong>. Sich rasieren,<\/strong> for instance, is a reflexive verb meaning to <\/strong>shave (oneself)<\/strong>. This, with the word sich<\/em> in front, is how you\u2019d see a reflexive verb in its root form.<\/p>\n

Forming a reflexive verb<\/h3>\n

The \u2018myself\u2019 bit is called the reflexive pronoun<\/strong>, and this changes according to who you are talking about.<\/p>\n

Using the reflexive verb sich rasieren (to shave)<\/em> as an example again, here is how you\u2019d form it in the present tense:<\/p>\n

Ich rasiere mich<\/strong> \u2013 I shave
\nDu rasierst dich<\/strong> \u2013 You shave
\nEr\/sie\/es rasiert sich<\/strong> \u2013 He\/she\/it shaves
\nWir rasieren uns<\/strong> \u2013 We shave
\nIhr rasiert euch<\/strong> \u2013 You shave (plural)
\nSie\/sie rasieren sich<\/strong> \u2013 You (formal)\/they shave<\/p>\n

Which German verbs are reflexive?<\/h3>\n

Here is a list of some common, reflexive German verbs. Please note that some of these verbs have different meanings when used without the \u2018sich\u2019 – ie. when they are not reflexive.<\/p>\n

Sich anziehen<\/strong> \u2013 to get dressed<\/p>\n

Sich baden<\/strong> \u2013 to bathe, take a bath
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

sich beeilen<\/strong> \u2013 to rush, hurry<\/p>\n

sich bewegen<\/strong> \u2013 to move<\/p>\n

sich duschen<\/strong> \u2013 to take a shower<\/p>\n

sich entscheiden<\/strong> \u2013 to decide<\/p>\n

sich erk\u00e4<\/span><\/strong>lten<\/strong> \u2013 to catch a cold
\n*<\/span>A classic mistake<\/strong> often made by English speakers learning German is that they say \u201cIch bin erk<\/span>\u00e4<\/span>ltet\u201d to mean \u201cI caught a cold\/am ill\u201d when really it is reflexive, so should be \u201cIch habe mich erk<\/strong><\/span>\u00e4<\/span><\/strong>ltet\u201d<\/strong>. This is a strange one because it sounds as if you have brought the cold on yourself! I like to translate this one literally as \u201cI have colded myself\u201d<\/strong>.*<\/span><\/p>\n

sich freuen<\/strong> \u2013 to be glad, excited<\/p>\n

sich rasieren<\/strong> \u2013 to shave<\/p>\n

sich schminken<\/strong> \u2013 to put makeup on<\/p>\n

sich streiten<\/strong> \u2013 to argue<\/p>\n

sich waschen<\/strong> \u2013 to wash<\/p>\n

I hope this has been helpful!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re going to look at reflexive German verbs. If you\u2019ve ever heard a German native say something like \u201cI will shower me\u201d in English instead of \u201cI will take a shower\u201d, for example, this post on reflexive verbs will hopefully explain why that is! What is a reflexive verb? A reflexive verb…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":9494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[11971,8],"tags":[12133,95131,376012,6,376023,7556,238421,468394,165,166],"class_list":["post-9491","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar-language","category-language","tag-german-grammar","tag-german-language","tag-germanlanguage","tag-grammar","tag-language","tag-reflexive","tag-reflexive-pronoun","tag-reflexive-verb","tag-verb","tag-verbs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t