Personal Reflexive Pronoun “Себя” (-self)
The Russian pronoun “Себя” means self. It is used when the pronoun is the same person or thing as the subject. Example “He talked about himself (Он говорил о себе)”. Himself is a reflexive pronoun.
| English | Myself, himself, herself. |
| Nominative Case | —- |
| Accusative Case | Себя |
| Genitive Case | Себя |
| Dative Case | Себе |
| Instrumental Case | Собой |
| Prepositional Case | Себе |
The pronoun себя is used in different idiomatic expressions:
представлять себе – to imagine
вести себя – to behave
чувствовать себя – to feel
быть самим собой – to remain oneself, to be true to oneself
выйти из себя – to loose one’s temper
не по себе – not to feel well
само собой (разумеется) – that goes without saying
так себе – so-so, middling
говорить от себя – to speak on one’s own, to express one’s own opinion
ничего себе – not so bad
Reflexive possessive pronoun “Свой”
The Russian pronoun “Свой” means “one’s own”. It replaces the normal possessive pronoun when it refers to the subject. Example “Ivan loves his (own) dog (Иван любит свою собаку)”. Unlike English, in Russian the reflexive is required in the 3rd person. If you were to use the normal possessive pronoun it would indicate the dog belongs to someone else. It is optional in the 1st and 2nd person but normally used if the subject is “Ты”.
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plural | |
| English | My own, his own, her own | |||
| Nominative Case | Свой | Своя | Своё | Свои |
| Accusative Case (animate) |
Свой Своего |
Свою | Своё | Свои Своих |
| Genitive Case | Своего | Своей | Своего | Своих |
| Dative Case | Своему | Своей | Своему | Своим |
| Instrumental Case | Своим | Своей | Своим | Своими |
| Prepositional Case | Своём | Своей | Своём | Своих |
Emphatic pronoun “Сам”
The Russian pronoun “Сам” is simply used to emphasise something. It translates to “myself, himself, herself” etc. It’s use is optional, it emphasises part of the sentence, rather than changing it’s meaning.
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plural | |
| English | Myself, himself, herself | |||
| Nominative Case | Сам | Сама | Само | Сами |
| Accusative Case (animate) |
Сам Самого |
Саму | Само | Сами Самих |
| Genitive Case | Самого | Самой | Самого | Самих |
| Dative Case | Самому | Самой | Самому | Самим |
| Instrumental Case | Самим | Самой | Самим | Самими |
| Prepositional Case | Самом | Самой | Самом | Самих |