adverbpronoun

selber

myself · yourself · herself

Dieses Wort benutzt man, wenn man sagt, dass jemand etwas ohne Hilfe von anderen macht.

Definition & meaning

Selber is a common, somewhat colloquial variant of selbst. It has two closely related meanings:

On one’s own; personally; oneself
- Ich habe das selber gemacht. — “I did that myself.”
- Sie muss das selber entscheiden. — “She has to decide that herself.”
The very same person or thing; personally involved
- Er selber hat es gesagt. — “He himself said it.”
- Das habe ich selber erlebt. — “I experienced that myself.”

In many contexts, selber and selbst are interchangeable. Selber is more conversational, while selbst is more neutral and is generally preferred in formal writing.

Grammar & Word origin

Selber is an indeclinable adverb or pronoun-like intensifier. It does not change according to gender, case, or number.

It commonly emphasizes the subject or another noun phrase:

ich selber — “I myself”
du selber — “you yourself”
der Chef selber — “the boss himself”

It also occurs in the expression von selber , meaning “by itself,” “automatically,” or “of its own accord”:

Das kommt nicht von selber. — “That does not happen by itself.”

Historically, selber comes from the same Germanic word as selbst. It is related to the English word “self.” The ending -er is historical rather than a productive modern suffix.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

selbst — the standard synonym; more neutral and often more appropriate in formal language.
eigenhändig — “personally” or “with one’s own hands”; more specific and emphasizes direct physical involvement.
persönlich — “personally”; emphasizes the person involved, but does not always mean “without help.”

Antonyms

There is no single exact antonym for selber. Depending on the context, possible opposites include:

fremd — “belonging to someone else” or “not one’s own.”
jemand anders — “someone else.”
von jemand anderem — “by someone else,” contrasting with doing something oneself.