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10.10 Reflexive verbs taking the dative case

Present tense of reflexive verbs taking a dative pronoun
A number of verbs use the reflexive pronoun in the dative case. Only two of the dative reflexive pronouns are different from their equivalent accusative reflexive pronoun. These are mich and dich which become mir and dir respectively.

Here is the present tense of sich vorstellen, a separable verb which takes a reflexive pronoun in the dative case when it means "to imagine":

Singular  
ich stelle mir vor I imagine
du stellst dir vor
Sie stellen sich vor
You imagine
(informal/formal) 
er/sie stellt sich vor He/she imagines
Plural  
wir stellen uns vor We imagine
ihr stellt euch vor
Sie stellen sich vor
You imagine
(informal/formal) 
sie stellen sich vor They imagine

Great care must be taken with using this particular verb. As we have seen, when sich vorstellen takes a reflexive pronoun in the accusative case, it means "to introduce oneself". And when it takes a non-reflexive object in the accusative case it means "to introduce somebody else":

  • Ich stelle ihn vor (I introduce him (= accusative))
  • Ich stelle mich vor (I introduce myself (= accusative))
  • Ich stelle mir vor (I imagine (= dative))


Other reflexive verbs taking a dative pronoun
We have already seen in Chapter 7 that a number of German verbs such as sagen, geben and empfehlen take both a dative and an accusative object. The dative object is usually a person whereas the accusative object is usually a thing.

The same construction is found with certain reflexive verbs. The reflexive pronoun, which is an integral part of the verb, is in the dative case, but the verb also has an accusative object. Here is a list of such verbs which we have encountered in this chapter.

sich etwas anhören
(to listen to something)
   sich etwas ansehen
(to watch something)
sich etwas ausleihen
(to borrow something)
   sich etwas vorstellen
(to imagine something)

Notes
1. All of these four verbs happen to be separable. This by no means always true of verbs taking a reflexive pronoun in the dative case!

2. To use these verbs, replace etwas (= something) with an appropriate noun in the accusative case. For example:

  • Ich höre mir die Wettervorhersage an. (I'm listening to the weather forecast.)
  • Wir sehen uns die Quizshow an. (We're watching the quiz show)
  • Du leihst dir das Video aus. (You borrow the video.)
  • Das kann ich mir vorstellen. (I can imagine that.)

The complete present tense of "sich ansehen" with an accusative noun is thus as follows:

Singular  
ich sehe mir den Film an I watch the film
du siehst dir den Film an
Sie sehen sich den Film an
You watch the film
(informal/formal) 
er sieht sich den Film an
sie sieht sich den Film an
He watches the film
She watches the film
Plural  
wir sehen uns den Film an We watch the film
ihr seht euch den Film an
Sie sehen sich den Film an
You watch the film
(informal/formal) 
sie sehen sich den Film an They watch the film


Reflexive verbs concerning the body
The dative reflexive pronoun is used in German with certain verbs when they refer to doing things to parts of the body (sich waschen) and putting on or taking off articles of clothing (sich anziehen, sich ausziehen).

The dative reflexive pronoun must be used when you specify which part of your body you are washing or which article of clothing you are putting on or taking off. Furthermore, the definite article is used to refer to the specific part of the body, whereas in English the possessive (my, your, his etc.) is used. It is therefore the task of the dative reflexive pronoun to indicate possession.

ich wasche mir die Hände I wash my hands
du wäscht dir das Gesicht You wash your face 
ich ziehe mir das Hemd an I put my shirt on
du ziehst dir die Schuhe aus You take your shoes off

Great care must therefore be taken to distinguish between the following pairs of verbs:

  • Ich wasche mich. (I'm having a wash.)
  • Ich wasche mir die Hände. (I'm washing my hands.)
     
  • Du ziehst dich an. (You get dressed.)
  • Du ziehst dir die Hose an. (You put your trousers on.)

The same construction is also used in German to translate "to clean one's teeth". The full present tense of this construction is given below.

Singular  
ich putze mir die Zähne I clean my teeth
du putzt dir die Zähne
Sie putzen sich die Zähne
You clean your teeth
(informal/formal) 
er/sie putzt sich die Zähne He/she cleans her teeth
Plural  
wir putzen uns die Zähne We clean our teeth
ihr putzt euch die Zähne
Sie putzen sich die Zähne
You clean your teeth
(informal/formal) 
sie putzen sich die Zähne They clean their teeth

A tipAs the stem of the verb putzen ends in "-z-", note that the "du" form of the verb adds "-t", and not "-st" - du putzt.

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