zich

Etymology 1
From, from , from , from , cognate with 🇨🇬.

Pronoun

 * : herself, himself, itself, themselves

Pronoun

 * : them
 * : us

Etymology
From, from , from , from , from. Old Dutch did not have a reflexive pronoun (only rarely in early Limburgish texts), but used the normal accusative pronoun (if necessary intensified by, cf. English ). 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, , , ).

Pronoun

 * 1)  ; himself, herself, itself, themselves, oneself
 * Hij wast zich. &mdash; He washes himself.
 * Hij wast zich het gezicht. &mdash; He washes his face.
 * Ieder voor zich. &mdash; Every man for himself.
 * 1)  ; yourself, yourselves
 * Hij viel zich een ongeluk &mdash; He fell and this resulted in an accident.
 * Hij lachte zich een bult &mdash; He laughed so severely that it left him a hunchback.
 * Hij viel zich een ongeluk &mdash; He fell and this resulted in an accident.
 * Hij lachte zich een bult &mdash; He laughed so severely that it left him a hunchback.
 * Hij viel zich een ongeluk &mdash; He fell and this resulted in an accident.
 * Hij lachte zich een bult &mdash; 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 . (“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].”)

Derived terms

 * See also: Category:Dutch reflexive verbs