Chapter 18 - Myself, Yourself, and so on
In English, actions which are received by the person doing the action are generally not distinguished in any way, unless there is a special reason to do so.
For example, if I tell someone that I shaved this morning, it is understood that I was the person who received the action of shaving, and no additional information is necessary.
In English, the reflexive forms are expressed by using words such as myself, yourself, and so on.
In Italian, when a person performs an action, and also receives that action, a special verb construction is used.
In these forms, the verbs are combined with a set of pronouns in order to convey the idea that the person who performed the action also received the action.
In these cases, the action is said to reflect back on the person, and the verbs are called reflexive verbs.
In dictionaries, verbs which are reflexive are shown with the pronoun si, such as lavarsi. The set of pronouns is
| English | Italian | example | |||
| myself | mi | Io mi lavo | ( I am bathing.) | ||
| yourself | ti | Tu ti diverti | (You are having fun.) | ||
| herself, himself | si | Quando lei si anima? | (When will she cheer up?) | ||
| ourselves | ci | Ci alziamo alle otto. | (We get up at 8AM.) | ||
| yourselves | vi | Vi preparaste per la festa. | (You got ready for the party.) | ||
| themselves | si | Si sẹntono allegri. | (They feel happy.) | ||
These forms are used much more frequently in Italian than in English.
The compound forms of ALL reflexive verbs are made by using ęssere and the past forms of the verbs.
example: I washed my hands this morning.. = Mi sono lavato le mani stamattina..