Dutch reflexive pronouns (me, je, zich, zichzelf)

A reflexive pronoun turns the action back onto the subject: the doer and the receiver are the same person. Ik was me (I wash myself) — I am both the one washing and the one being washed. Many Dutch verbs demand such a pronoun even where English uses none: Ik vergis me (I am mistaken).

Pick the reflexive pronoun that matches the subject — me, je, zich or ons — and place it directly after the verb. Only zich is a special word you would not already know from the object pronouns; the others reuse familiar forms.

So zich covers hij, zij, het, the plural zij, and the polite u. For ik, jij, wij and jullie the reflexive pronoun is the same word as the everyday object pronoun (me, je, ons, je).

• With true reflexive verbs, which are stored in the dictionary with zich: zich vergissen (to be mistaken), zich herinneren (to remember), zich haasten (to hurry), zich vervelen (to be bored). Ik herinner me je naam niet. (I don't remember your name.)
• For everyday actions people do to themselves: zich wassen (to wash), zich aankleden (to get dressed), zich scheren (to shave). Hij scheert zich elke ochtend. (He shaves every morning.)
• Use zichzelf (and mezelf, jezelf, onszelf) only for genuine emphasis or contrast — when the point is that the subject, and no one else, is the target: Ze heeft zichzelf geknipt. (She cut her own hair.)

The reflexive pronoun sits immediately after the finite verb (the conjugated verb), near the front of the sentence — not next to the verb it belongs to when that verb has moved to the end.

• Plain sentence: Ik verveel me op zondag. (I get bored on Sundays.)
• In the perfect tense the pronoun still hugs the helper verb, while the main verb waits at the end: Hij heeft zich vergist. (He made a mistake.)
• In a question the pronoun follows the verb that comes first: Verveel je je? (Are you bored?) — here the first je is the subject, the second je is reflexive.

English speakers drop the reflexive pronoun, because the English translation often has none: I am mistaken, I remember, I hurry carry no myself. In Dutch the pronoun is not optional with these verbs — say Ik vergis me, not Ik vergis; Ik herinner me dat, not Ik herinner dat; We haasten ons, not We haasten. The opposite trap is overusing zichzelf: for an ordinary zich wassen the plain zich is enough — Hij wast zich, not Hij wast zichzelf, unless you really mean he did it rather than someone else.