zich

Contents

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch sich, from Middle High German sich, from Old High German sih, from Proto-Germanic *sek. Old Dutch did not have a reflexive pronoun (only rarely in early Limburgish texts), but used the normal accusative pronoun (if necessary intensified by selven, cf. English himself). Although the use of zich in Holland-based Dutch was clearly triggered by written German, this development was assisted by the fact that the south-eastern dialects of Dutch had already adopted certain High German pronoun forms in much earlier times (cf. Limburgish ich, mich, dich, zich).

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪx
• IPA^(key): /zɪx/

Pronoun

zich

1. (reflexive) reflexive pronoun that refers to the speakers; oneself

   Hij wast zich. — He washes himself.

   Hij wast zich het gezicht. — He washes his face.

   Vergist u zich niet? — Aren't you mistaken? (polite)

   Ieder voor zich. — Every man for himself.

2. (by extension, reflexive) Third person singular and plural reflexive pronoun; himself, herself, itself, themselves, yourselves
3. (by extension, formal, reflexive) Second person singular and plural formal reflexive pronoun; yourself, yourselves
4. expresses an unintended result with many otherwise non-reflexive and ergative verbs

   Hij viel zich een ongeluk — He fell and this resulted in an accident.

   Hij lachte zich een bult — He laughed so severely that it left him a hunchback.

Usage notes

• Zich can be used whether the reflexivity of the verb is optional or mandatory. Optionally reflexive verbs can also take zichzelf as reflexive pronoun.
• As in English (but unlike German and French), Dutch reflexive pronouns do not express reciprocity, except dialectally. Reciprocal senses may occur in fixed verb constructions, as in: Ze hebben zich verloofd. (“They have got engaged.”) Such cases are generally explainable by etymology. (In the example, the original sense is “They have promised themselves [to each other].”)

Inflection

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive5
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me	mijner
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	hare	zich	harer
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons	onzer
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).				5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural.

Derived terms

See Category:Dutch reflexive verbs

Related terms

• op zich
• voor zich
• zichzelf