themselves

English

Etymology

Morphologically them +‎ -selves.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ðɛmˈsɛlvz/, /ðəmˈsɛlvz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: them‧selves
• Rhymes: -ɛlvz

Pronoun

themselves (third-person, reflexive of they)

1. (reflexive pronoun) The reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun. The group of people, animals, or objects previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).

   (reflexively):

   They’ve hurt themselves.

   (after a preposition):

   They fought among themselves.

   (for emphasis):

   They are going to try climbing Mount Everest themselves.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

2. (reflexive pronoun) The reflexive case of they, the third-person singular personal pronoun. The single person previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).

   (reflexively):

   Would whoever stole my phone please make themselves known.

   (after a preposition):

   I don't want anyone to fight among themselves.

   (for emphasis):

   Everyone must do it themselves.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 2:3:

     Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

   • 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 18:

     In fact she was so busy doing all the things that anyone might, who finds themselves alone in an empty house, that she did not notice at first when it began to turn dusk and the rooms to grow dim.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:themselves.

Usage notes

• Regarding the use of singular themselves (as opposed to themself or e.g. himself), see the usage notes about they, themself, and he, respectively.

Synonyms

• 'emselves (colloquial)
• theirselves (nonstandard)
• (singular): themself (non-gender-specific), theirself (non-gender-specific, but nonstandard), himself, herself (gender-specific)

Translations

the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun

• Belarusian: сябе́ (sjabjé) (accusative, genitive), сабе́ (sabjé) (dative, locative), сабо́й (sabój) (instrumental); -цца (-cca) (verb ending)
• Bulgarian: себе си (sebe si)
• Catalan: es (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 他們自己／他们自己 (tāmen zìjǐ)

• Finnish: itsensä (fi), itseään, ihteään (dialectal), ihtiään (dialectal); keskenään (fi); itse (fi)
• French: se (fr)
• German: sich (de)
• Hungarian: maguk (hu), magukat (hu)
• Japanese: 彼ら自身 (karera-jishin)
• Khakas: постары (postarı)
• Latin: ipsi (la)
• Navajo: tʼáá hó
• Northern Sami: iežaska du, iežaset pl
• Norwegian: seg (no)
• Portuguese: se (pt), si (pt) (prepositional)
• Romani: pen

  Kalo Finnish Romani: peen

• Russian: себя́ (ru) (sebjá)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: se

• Spanish: se (es)
• Tuvan: боттары (bottarı)
• Ukrainian: себе́ (sebé)
• Yakut: бэйэлэрэ (beyelere)

emphatic: they

• Belarusian: яны́ са́мі (janý sámi)
• Bulgarian: самите (bg) (samite)
• Czech: (animate) sami m pl, (inanimate) samy m pl, samy f pl, sama (cs) n pl
• French: eux-mêmes (fr) m, elles-mêmes (fr)
• Latvian: viņi paši m pl, viņas pašas f pl
• Northern Sami: ieža
• Polish: (animate) sami (pl) m pl, (masculine inanimate and all other genders) same (pl)
• Portuguese: eles mesmos m, elas mesmas f
• Russian: они́ са́ми (oní sámi)
• Slovak: oni sami, ony same
• Spanish: ellos mismos m, ellas mismas f
• Ukrainian: вони́ сами́ (voný samý), вони́ самі́ (voný samí)

the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition

• Catalan: mateixos (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 他們自己／他们自己 (tāmen zìjǐ)

• Finnish: itsensä, itseään; itselleen; itse (fi), ite (fi) (informal)
• Hungarian: önmaguk (hu), önmagukat
• Japanese: 彼ら自身 (karera-jishin)
• Latin: ipsos (la) m, ipsas (la) f, ipsa (la) n
• Russian: себя́ (ru) (sebjá)
• Volapük: okis

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} اَنْفُسَهُم (anfusahum)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} zichzelf (nl)
• German: ^{(please verify)} sich selber
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} essi stessi
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 그들 자신 (geudeul jasin)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} sig själva

See also

English personal pronouns

Dialectal and obsolete or archaic forms are in italics.

			personal pronoun			possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
			subjective	objective	reflexive
first person	singular		I me (colloquial)	me	myself me mysen	mine	my mine (before vowels, archaic) me
	plural		we	us	ourselves ourself oursen	ours	our
second person	singular	standard, formal	you	you	yourself yoursen	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		archaic, informal	thou	thee	thyself theeself thysen	thine	thy thine (before vowels)
	plural	standard	you ye (archaic)	you	yourselves	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		colloquial	you all y'all you guys	you all y'all you guys	y'allselves	y'all's you guys' your guys' (proscribed)	y'all's your all's (nonstandard) you guys' your guys' (proscribed)
		informal / dialectal	(see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries)
third person	singular	masculine	he	him	himself hisself (archaic) hissen	his hisn (obsolete outside dialects)	his
		feminine	she	her	herself hersen	hers hern (obsolete outside dialects)	her
		neuter	it hit	it hit	itself hitself	its his (archaic)	its his (archaic) hits
		genderless	they	them	themself, themselves	theirs	their
		genderless, nonspecific (formal)	one	one	oneself	–	one's
	plural		they	them hem, 'em	themselves theirsen	theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects)	their