sich
oneself
Definition & meaning
sich is a German reflexive pronoun, usually translated as himself, herself, itself, themselves, or formal yourself/yourselves. Its exact translation depends on the subject and the sentence.
It can serve as the object of a verb, referring back to the subject:
It can also express a reciprocal meaning, equivalent to each other, when the subject is plural:
With many verbs, sich is simply a required part of the verb and is not translated separately:
Grammar & Word origin
Sich is used with third-person subjects—he, she, it, they—and with the formal pronoun Sie. It has the same form for singular and plural, and for all genders.
It is used in both the accusative and dative cases. The case depends on the verb and the sentence: for instance, sich waschen uses the accusative, while sich etwas vorstellen uses the dative pronoun alongside another object.
For other grammatical persons, German uses different reflexive pronouns: mich , dich , uns , and euch .
The word descends from an older Germanic reflexive pronoun and is related to forms found in other Germanic languages.
Synonyms & antonyms
There are no direct synonyms or antonyms for sich: it is a grammatical pronoun, not a descriptive word. Its English equivalents vary with context, and its German alternatives depend on the person: mich , dich , uns , or euch .
Common phrases & collocations
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Examples
Sie wäscht sich jeden Morgen.pronoun
She washes herself every morning.
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