Romanian reflexive pronouns

A Romanian reflexive pronoun points back to the subject: Ana se vede în oglindă. (Ana sees herself in the mirror.) The short form changes with case: accusative se is a direct object, while dative își marks an indirect, beneficiary, or possessive role.

What do Romanian reflexive pronouns do?

First identify the role that points back to the subject, then choose accusative for a direct object or dative for an indirect object, beneficiary, or possessor. The same short form can also have a reciprocal or lexical meaning, so context matters.

Use	Question or test	Example	Meaning
True reflexive, accusative	Who is directly seen? The subject	Radu se vede în oglindă.	Radu sees himself in the mirror.
Reflexive dative	To whom or for whom? The subject	Radu își cumpără o carte.	Radu buys himself a book.
Reflexive dative with possession	Whose hands? The subject's	Radu își spală mâinile.	Radu washes his hands.
Reciprocal	Can the meaning be one another?	Radu și Vlad se ajută unul pe altul.	Radu and Vlad help each other.
Lexical reflexive	Is the clitic part of the verb's usual pattern?	Mă gândesc la examen.	I am thinking about the exam.

How do you choose accusative or dative?

Use the accusative reflexive clitic when the subject is the direct object; use the dative reflexive clitic when the subject is an indirect participant, beneficiary, or possessor. Romanian case questions help: pe cine? (whom?) for a direct object and cui? (to whom?) for a dative.

Role	Third-person clitic	Example	What the clitic contributes
Direct object, accusative	se	Ana se vede. (Ana sees herself.)	Ana is the person directly seen.
Indirect object or beneficiary, dative	își	Ana își cumpără o carte. (Ana buys herself a book.)	Ana is the person for whom the book is bought.
Possessor, dative	își	Ana își spală mâinile. (Ana washes her hands.)	Ana is the possessor of mâinile (hands).

Compare Ana se spală. (Ana washes herself.) with Ana își spală mâinile. (Ana washes her hands.) In the second sentence, mâinile is the direct object and își identifies its possessor.
The first- and second-person reflexive clitics are the same as the corresponding short personal-pronoun forms: mă, te, ne, and vă. The third person is the important contrast: reflexive accusative se, reflexive dative își.
Do not choose the form from the English word herself or themselves alone. The Romanian form follows the syntactic role and the verb's meaning.

What are the person and number forms?

The reflexive clitic has an accusative set and a dative set. In the third person, neither set distinguishes masculine from feminine, and the same form covers singular and plural.

Person and number	Accusative clitic	Full accusative	Dative clitic	Full dative
First person singular	mă	pe mine	îmi	mie
Second person singular	te	pe tine	îți	ție
Third person singular	se	pe sine	își	sieși
First person plural	ne	pe noi	ne	nouă
Second person plural	vă	pe voi	vă	vouă
Third person plural	se	pe sine	își	sieși

For the first and second persons, the full forms are the ordinary personal pronouns used reflexively: Mă văd pe mine. (I see myself.) For the third person, pe sine is the full accusative form and sieși is the full dative form: El se vede pe sine. (He sees himself.) / El își promite sieși o pauză. (He promises himself a break.)

Full forms add focus or clarification and can occur after a preposition: Se gândește la sine. (He or she is thinking about himself, herself, or itself.) The third-person forms pe sine and sieși do not change for gender or number. DOOM3 also records sie alongside sieși; this article uses sieși as the transparent learner default.

Where does the reflexive clitic go?

Keep the clitic close to the verb group, but move it according to the verb form. The patterns below cover the most useful contemporary forms without requiring a separate lesson on reflexive verbs.

Verb form	Position	Accusative example	Dative example
Present or another simple finite form	Before the finite verb	Se vede în oglindă. (He or she sees himself or herself in the mirror.)	Își spală mâinile. (He or she washes his or her hands.)
Compound perfect	Before the auxiliary	S-a văzut în oglindă. (He or she saw himself or herself in the mirror.)	Și-a spălat mâinile. (He or she washed his or her hands.)
Future with va	Before the future auxiliary	Se va vedea în oglindă. (He or she will see himself or herself in the mirror.)	Își va spăla mâinile. (He or she will wash his or her hands.)
Present subjunctive	After să	Vrea să se vadă în oglindă. (He or she wants to see himself or herself in the mirror.)	Vrea să-și spele mâinile. (He or she wants to wash his or her hands.)
Affirmative imperative	After the verb, with a hyphen	Privește-te în oglindă! (Look at yourself in the mirror!)	Spală-ți mâinile! (Wash your hands!)

Before a vowel-initial auxiliary, se and își use the attached shapes s- and și-: s-a and și-a. These are clitic-plus-auxiliary forms, not new persons.
The expanded subjunctive spelling să își spele is also accepted; the compact form să-și spele is a useful everyday model. Do not make this optional spelling difference a meaning contrast.
Other non-finite forms can attach the clitic after the form, as in DOOM3's cumpărându-și (buying for himself, herself, or themselves). This article concentrates on finite clauses and the affirmative imperative.

How do true reflexive, reciprocal, and lexical uses differ?

The clitic itself does not always tell you which interpretation is intended. Read the subject, the rest of the clause, and the verb pattern together.

True reflexive: one subject acts on the same person: Mara se vede în oglindă. (Mara sees herself in the mirror.) The direct object points back to Mara.
Reciprocal: a plural or coordinated subject acts mutually: Mara și Ioana se ajută una pe alta. (Mara and Ioana help each other.) The added phrase una pe alta makes the mutual reading explicit.
Lexical reflexive: the clitic belongs to the verb pattern and is not an ordinary object meaning himself or herself: Mă gândesc la examen. (I am thinking about the exam.) The form mă is part of a se gândi in this meaning. For the wider verb patterns, see Romanian reflexive verbs.
A dative clitic can also be reciprocal: Își scriu mesaje. can mean They write messages to each other when the context supplies a plural subject. Use the context or an added phrase to remove that ambiguity.

Mistakes to avoid

Do not use își for a direct reflexive object: Ana se vede, not Ana își vede, when Ana sees herself. Use își vede mâinile only when mâinile is the direct object and Ana is its possessor.
Do not use se for a reflexive recipient or possessor: Ana își cumpără o carte and Ana își spală mâinile use the dative clitic.
Do not make se agree with the subject's gender or number. Write El se vede, Ea se vede, Ei se văd, and Ele se văd; the clitic remains se.
Do not put a clitic after an ordinary present-tense verb: write Se vede, not Vede-se. Post-verbal attachment belongs to forms such as the affirmative imperative: Privește-te!
Do not treat sine and sieși as ordinary subject pronouns. They are full reflexive forms used for an object or a prepositional phrase, while the subject remains expressed or understood elsewhere.

Test yourself

1 / 5

Which third-person clitic completes the direct-reflexive sentence Ana ___ vede în oglindă?